Standard Chartered Bank SWIFT/BIC code

SWIFT/BIC code of Standard Chartered Bank

The short code SCBLAEAD and the 11-character code SCBLAEADXXX identify one and the same institution: Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. A BIC does one job: it ensures that a cross-border transfer reaches the right bank. In daily life you usually come across it on international invoices, in payment forms and on the account details of Standard Chartered Bank customers.

Further down you will find the practical side: money coming in from abroad, paying someone in another country and how to verify a SWIFT code before you hit send. Remember that the SWIFT code just identifies the bank, not the account: the IBAN or account number takes care of that.

Paying someone abroad from your Standard Chartered Bank account

If you send money abroad via Standard Chartered Bank, the visible fee is only part of what you pay. Besides the transfer fee, banks in between may deduct a fee, and when currencies are converted the bank often applies a rate below the real market rate.

Many banks rarely show the margin on the rate as a cost – you only notice it if you compare. An easy check: put the rate you get next to the mid-market rate and work out the difference on your amount.

Specialised transfer providers often use a rate near the mid-market rate and lower fees. Before your next transfer, it is worth comparing the total cost via GoldexPay rather than accepting the bank’s rate by default. Using a transfer service does not require closing your account at Standard Chartered Bank.

Transfer times and tracking a payment to Standard Chartered Bank

There is no fixed delivery time: some arrive the same day or the next. Payments made after the cut-off time or just before a weekend or public holiday usually start a business day later. Compliance checks on larger or unusual payments may also cause some delay, even when all details are correct.

When a payment takes longer than expected, contact the sending bank for the tracking status or the UETR. Specialist transfer services usually provide a status online showing how far the money is.

A delayed transfer has to be traced from the sending side on the basis of the transfer details. Request from the sender a copy of the payment confirmation including the reference; that often settles the question quickly.

Why Standard Chartered Bank has an 8- and an 11-character code

Each SWIFT/BIC code has the same eight core characters: a four-letter bank code, a two-letter country code and two characters for the location. That gives you SCBLAEAD for Standard Chartered Bank.

The 11-character version adds a three-character extension for a branch or department. If the last three are XXX, they simply mean the head office, which is why SCBLAEADXXX and SCBLAEAD lead to the same place.

Type the code in one piece, in upper case and without separators. Copying the code beats typing it by hand.

Verifying the SWIFT code of Standard Chartered Bank

The most reliable place for the right code remains paperwork issued by the bank. Compare that code against SCBLAEAD on this page.

With a wrong code, the payment might be delayed, bounce back or cost extra, and tracing it can take weeks. Do not forget the account number: a mistake there is more difficult to undo than a wrong BIC.

An automatic check in your banking app merely confirms that the IBAN is valid – not that it belongs to the person you mean to pay. More and more banks compare the payee name against the account before you confirm. When you pay someone new, some people send a small amount first before sending the rest.

Head office or branch code at Standard Chartered Bank?

Having 3 codes in 2 cities, Standard Chartered Bank is one of the banks that register separate codes for branches and departments. The head office code remains SCBLAEADXXX.

In most cases you do not need to pick a branch: payments addressed to SCBLAEADXXX reach Standard Chartered Bank correctly. Just use a branch code when your contact gives you that exact code.

When in doubt, ask the person you are paying for the exact BIC in their bank details. Codes can change when banks reorganise, so a code from an old document is not always valid.

The United Arab Emirates Dirham and what conversion costs you

United Arab Emirates uses the United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED). If you send another currency it has to be converted somewhere along the way – by your bank, by Standard Chartered Bank or by a bank in between. Every conversion eats into something, even when no fee is shown.

Where the conversion happens has an effect on how much arrives. In many cases you pay less if you send AED straight away through a provider with a good rate, so that the receiving bank does not need to convert again.

Rates for AED move all the time – some services let you fix a rate in advance. With bigger transfers, a small difference in the rate adds up quickly.

A note on our data

The details on this page come from publicly available data. It can happen that a code on this page is no longer current, for example after a merger. Figures such as the number of codes are from our directory and may differ from what Standard Chartered Bank publishes.

Treat our data as a reference, rather than as the last word – the bank details from the recipient are leading. GoldexPay has no connection to Standard Chartered Bank. Found an error? Let us know through the contact page so we can correct it.

Watch out for payment fraud

Be wary if someone suddenly asks you to pay into a different account abroad. A valid SWIFT code tells you nothing about who owns the account.

Verify new bank details through a different channel, not by replying to the message. Be suspicious of time pressure, odd spelling or an email address that differs by one letter. If money has already gone to the wrong account, call your bank right away.

Recipients are targeted too: a classic trick is a buyer who pays too much followed by a request to refund the difference abroad. A screenshot of a transfer proves nothing – check your own account.

What to give a sender who pays you at Standard Chartered Bank

For an international payment at Standard Chartered Bank, the person paying you has to have not just the BIC. Share the account holder’s name, your account number or IBAN, SWIFT code SCBLAEADXXX and your address.

The sender’s bank might also ask for the bank address of Standard Chartered Bank; the head office in Dubai is usually fine. A typo in the IBAN is more trouble than it looks.

Do not be surprised if the amount credited is below what the sender paid. Charges on incoming payments differ per bank; check the price list of Standard Chartered Bank. On invoices, you can agree who bears the costs, so that nobody is left short.