Category 7: Documentary credits, guarantees and standby letters of credit
MT721 Transfer of a Documentary Credit
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The MT721 carries the part of a transferred documentary credit that does not fit in the MT720. The transferring bank sends it to the bank advising the second beneficiary, after the MT720, with the remaining goods, documents, conditions and special payment conditions.
- Message type
- MT721
- Category
- 7
- Status
- In the current standard
- ISO 20022
- No direct equivalent
What MT721 is used for
A transferable credit lets the first beneficiary, often a trader, ask the transferring bank to make the credit available in whole or in part to a second beneficiary, often the actual supplier. The transferring bank sends the transferred terms in an MT720, and continues long texts in one or more MT721 messages.
Field 20 holds the transferring bank’s reference and field 21 the credit number from the issuing bank.
- Sent by
- The transferring bank
- Sent to
- The bank advising the second beneficiary
MT721 format: sequences and fields
Message text (block 4)Mandatory
No sequences. Field order as in SR 2025.
| Tag | Name | Status | Format | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Sequence of Total | M | 1!n/1!n | This message’s number in the series and the total, counting the MT720 as number 1. |
| 20 | Transferring Bank's Reference | M | 16x | The transferring bank’s reference, the same as in the related MT720. |
| 21 | Documentary Credit Number | M | 16x | The credit number given by the issuing bank. |
| 45A | Description of Goods and/or Services | O | 100*65z | Further description of the goods or services under the transferred credit. |
| 46A | Documents Required | O | 100*65z | Further documents the second beneficiary must present. |
| 47A | Additional Conditions | O | 100*65z | Further conditions of the transferred credit. |
| 49G | Special Payment Conditions for Beneficiary | O | 100*65z | Further payment conditions to be passed on to the second beneficiary. |
| 49H | Special Payment Conditions for Receiving Bank | O | 100*65z | Further payment conditions for the receiving bank only. |
Format notation: n digits, a upper-case letters, c upper-case letters and digits, x any character of the Swift character set, d a decimal number with a comma, ! fixed length, [ ] optional, 4*35x up to 4 lines of 35 characters. M mandatory, O optional, C conditional (a rule decides).
ISO 20022
No ISO 20022 equivalent in general use. Documentary credit messages in category 7 were not part of the November 2025 move of cross-border payment instructions to ISO 20022 and are still exchanged as MT on Swift.
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