Commonwealth Bank of Australia SWIFT/BIC code

SWIFT/BIC code of Commonwealth Bank of Australia

CTBACNBJ and CTBACNBJXXX are two ways of writing the same SWIFT/BIC code, and both lead to Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Beijing. Banks worldwide use these codes to direct international transfers to the right bank. You will need it mostly when dealing with payments that cross a border and payments in foreign currencies.

Further down you will find the practical questions: receiving money at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, paying someone in another country and how to check a SWIFT code before you hit send. A SWIFT code names a bank or branch, not a specific account; the IBAN or account number does that.

Before you send: check the Commonwealth Bank of Australia code

The most reliable place for the right code remains paperwork issued by the bank. If the code you have does not match CTBACNBJ or CTBACNBJXXX, do not guess: check with the recipient or with Commonwealth Bank of Australia directly.

Mistakes in the BIC are costly rather than fatal – usually the money comes back, minus fees and time lost. A mistake in the account number is a bigger problem, because the money may be credited to someone else.

A validity check by your bank merely confirms that the code exists. More and more banks check the name against the account before you confirm. For a first payment, some people send a small amount first.

How up to date is this code?

We gather SWIFT/BIC codes from public sources and update our list from time to time. Still, banks merge or change codes, so information can be out of date. Figures such as the number of codes come from our directory and may differ from what Commonwealth Bank of Australia publishes.

Treat the information here as a handy check. We are a comparison service for money transfers and not affiliated with Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Found outdated information? Tell us via our contact form and we will look into it.

Chinese Yuan (CNY) and conversion costs

China uses the Chinese Yuan, with the currency code CNY. Money sent in a different currency is converted into CNY on its way to Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and whoever converts it chooses the rate. You rarely see a separate charge for that conversion – the cost sits in the rate.

Which bank converts the money makes a difference, because each party uses its own rate. Sending the amount already in CNY often prevents an extra conversion by Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

The CNY rate changes throughout the day and quotes are often valid only for a short time. With bigger transfers, a small difference in the rate can be worth more than the fee.

Getting paid from abroad into a Commonwealth Bank of Australia account

If you expect a payment from another country, send the payer all details at once. What they need is: the account holder’s name, IBAN or account number, CTBACNBJXXX and, for some countries, your home address.

You can include the bank name and its city too, because some payment forms have separate fields for them. A typo in the IBAN can be harder to fix than you might think.

An incoming payment does not always arrive for the full amount. Intermediary banks may deduct a fee, and when currencies differ, an exchange rate margin comes on top. Agree with the sender who pays which costs, especially for larger amounts.

Which of the 2 codes of Commonwealth Bank of Australia do you need?

Commonwealth Bank of Australia uses 2 different SWIFT/BIC codes across 2 locations. One of them is the head office code, CTBACNBJXXX; the others belong to branches or departments, and sometimes internal departments.

For most incoming transfers, the head office code CTBACNBJXXX is what you need. Only use a branch code when the account holder gives you that exact code.

Unsure which code to use? Check with the recipient, or look at a recent statement from Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Branch codes can change over time, so do not rely on old paperwork.

8 or 11 characters: CTBACNBJ versus CTBACNBJXXX

A BIC is built from fixed blocks: characters one to four stand for the bank, the next two give the country and the two after that indicate the location. For Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the 8-character core is CTBACNBJ.

The long version has a three-character extension for a branch or department. If the last three are XXX, they simply mean the head office, so CTBACNBJXXX and CTBACNBJ are interchangeable.

As a rule the code is written in capitals. Pasting the code is safer than retyping it: a typo can point to another bank.

International transfers from Commonwealth Bank of Australia: the real cost

What you pay for an international transfer is made up of several parts, and the transfer fee is only the most visible one. Besides a fixed fee, correspondent or intermediary banks can deduct a fee, and when currencies are converted the bank usually uses a rate below the actual market rate.

Banks rarely show their exchange rate markup as a cost – you only notice it if you compare. Check the rate you are offered with the mid-market rate – the rate you find on financial news sites; the gap is what conversion costs you.

For a lot of routes, a transfer service turns out to be cheaper than a bank – mostly thanks to the rate. Before your next transfer, it is worth comparing the total cost via GoldexPay. You can always keep your account at Commonwealth Bank of Australia to fund the transfer, while a cheaper service handles the conversion.

Tracking a transfer to or from Commonwealth Bank of Australia

How quickly a payment reaches Commonwealth Bank of Australia depends on a few things: the currency, how many intermediary banks are involved, cut-off times and differences in time zone. Weekends and public holidays in the sending or receiving country add extra days. Extra checks on larger or unusual payments may also add some delay, even when all details are correct.

When a payment takes longer than expected, ask the sending bank for the status; with that reference banks can see where the payment is. Keep the payment confirmation; it contains the details a bank needs to start a trace.

If the money does not arrive within the expected time, the sender needs to start with the bank that sent it, not the receiving bank. Ask the sender for the payment receipt with the date and reference; that often settles the question quickly.

Watch out for payment fraud

Criminals regularly send payment requests with new bank details, sometimes in an email that looks completely genuine. A correct SWIFT code says nothing about whether the request is genuine.

Do not rely on a phone number in the same message that contains the change. Watch out for urgent requests, odd spelling or an email address that differs by one letter. When money was sent to a fraudster, contact your bank immediately: the sooner they act, the better the chance of a recall.

Fraud can also work the other way: someone sends more than agreed and asks you to refund the difference via a different route. Do not act before the money has really arrived.