The Bank of New York Mellon SWIFT/BIC code

What BSDTGB2X means for a payment to The Bank of New York Mellon

BSDTGB2X and BSDTGB2XXXX are two spellings of the same SWIFT/BIC code, and both point to The Bank of New York Mellon in London. A BIC has a single purpose: it makes sure that money from abroad ends up at the right bank. In practice you mostly come across the code on international invoices, in your banking app and in the bank details of The Bank of New York Mellon customers.

On this page we explain how the code is put together, when you need it and what else you need for a transfer to or from The Bank of New York Mellon. A SWIFT code names an institution, never a specific account.

International transfers from The Bank of New York Mellon: the real cost

What you pay for an international transfer is made up of more than one component. Besides a fixed fee, banks in between may take a cut, and when the money changes currency the bank usually applies a rate below the actual market rate.

Many banks rarely list their exchange rate markup separately. Compare their rate with the mid-market rate. The difference is your real conversion cost.

For a lot of routes, a specialist provider is less expensive than a bank. GoldexPay compares what recipients receive across services, so you can pick the cheapest route. You can always use your account at The Bank of New York Mellon as the source of the money, while a cheaper service handles the conversion.

Before you send: check the The Bank of New York Mellon code

Have the recipient copy the account details straight from their online banking. Compare that code with BSDTGB2X on this page.

Errors in the BIC are costly more than disastrous – usually the money comes back, minus fees and time lost. Remember the IBAN: a mistake there can be harder to correct than a wrong BIC.

A format check in your banking app only confirms that the IBAN exists – not that it belongs to the person you mean to pay. More and more banks check the payee name with the account before you confirm – do not ignore a mismatch warning. When you pay someone new, many people send a small amount first before sending the rest.

Watch out for payment fraud

Fraudsters often send fake invoices containing changed bank details sent from what looks like a familiar address. The fact that BSDTGB2X exists is no guarantee that a request mentioning it is legitimate – fraudsters use real bank codes as well.

Verify new bank details via a separate channel like a call to a number from an earlier contract. Urgency and secrecy are red flags – a real supplier can wait a day. Acted too fast? Call the bank you paid from without delay and ask them to start a recall.

Fraud also work the other way: someone sends more than agreed and wants you to return the difference. A screenshot of a transfer is no proof; only your own account shows what has arrived.

The British Pound and what conversion costs you

The currency in United Kingdom is the British Pound (GBP). When you pay another currency it has to be converted somewhere along the way – by your bank, by The Bank of New York Mellon or by a bank in between. You rarely see a separate line for the conversion.

Who converts the money makes a difference: every bank has its own margin. In many cases it is cheaper if you send GBP straight away via a transfer service with a good rate, so that the receiving bank does not need to convert again.

Exchange rates change all the time. On larger amounts, even small gap in the rate can be worth more than the fee.

Paying The Bank of New York Mellon in euros within SEPA

Within the SEPA zone, euro payments to The Bank of New York Mellon follow common rules and in most cases need only the IBAN. A field for the BIC is usually optional or missing for those payments.

You will still need BSDTGB2XXXX when sending payments in other currencies or transfers from countries outside SEPA. If your banking app asks for the BIC regardless, entering BSDTGB2X is fine.

SEPA transfers normally land within one business day. Charges on SEPA payments are generally low as long as everything stays in euros.

How long does an international transfer to The Bank of New York Mellon take?

An international transfer usually needs one to a few business days – it depends on currency, route and the banks in between. Transfers sent late in the day or on weekends and holidays often start the next business day. Occasionally a bank asks about the purpose of a payment, which can hold things up.

A growing number of banks are connected to SWIFT gpi, which lets them follow a payment from bank to bank. Each payment gets a unique transaction reference, the UETR, which your bank can use to see where the money is. Save the payment confirmation until the money has arrived.

Only the sending bank can request a trace or a recall; the receiving side usually has nothing to trace yet. Ask the sender for a copy of the payment confirmation including the reference; that often settles the question quickly.

What to give a sender who pays you at The Bank of New York Mellon

To receive an international payment into your account at The Bank of New York Mellon, the person paying you has to have more than the BIC. Share your name as the bank knows it, your account number or IBAN, the BIC BSDTGB2XXXX and your address.

It helps to add The Bank of New York Mellon and its city as well, because some payment forms have separate fields for them. A mistake in the IBAN is harder to fix than it looks.

Do not be surprised if the amount credited is below the amount on the sender’s receipt. Intermediary banks may deduct a fee, and when currencies differ, an exchange rate margin applies. Agree with the sender who covers the fees before the money is sent.

About this information

This directory is compiled from publicly available sources. Institutions merge, close branches and change codes. The number of codes on this page are based on what is in our directory and not on information from The Bank of New York Mellon itself.

Use our data as a reference, not as the last word – the bank details from the recipient are leading. We are a comparison service for money transfers and not part of The Bank of New York Mellon. Should you notice something that is out of date, we appreciate a message via the contact page.

What the XXX in BSDTGB2XXXX means

A BIC is made up of fixed blocks: characters one to four identify the bank, the next two give the country and the two after that mark the location. That gives you BSDTGB2X for The Bank of New York Mellon.

XXX at the end of BSDTGB2XXXX does not stand for a missing value or an error: it stands for the main office of The Bank of New York Mellon. Some forms ask for 11 characters, in which case you can add XXX after BSDTGB2X.

Do not add spaces, dots when you enter BSDTGB2X or BSDTGB2XXXX. A wrong letter can send a payment to another bank, so check it twice.

Choosing between the 39 SWIFT codes of The Bank of New York Mellon

With 39 codes, The Bank of New York Mellon belongs to the banks that use individual codes for branches. The main code is BSDTGB2XXXX.

For the vast majority of incoming transfers, the head office code BSDTGB2XXXX works fine. When you receive a specific code, stick to it instead of swapping it with the head office code.

The safest approach is to copy the code directly from the recipient’s statement. Codes for branches are more prone to change than BSDTGB2XXXX when a bank merges or closes offices.