Royal Bank of Canada SWIFT/BIC code

ROYCUS3M – the SWIFT/BIC code of Royal Bank of Canada

The 8-character code ROYCUS3M and the 11-character code ROYCUS3MXXX refer to one and the same institution: Royal Bank of Canada in New York,ny, United States. Banks worldwide use these codes to direct international transfers to the right bank. It comes up mainly for transfers between countries.

Below you will find the practical side: receiving money at Royal Bank of Canada, paying someone in another country and how to check a SWIFT code before you confirm a payment. A SWIFT code identifies a bank or branch, not a single account, which is why you always need the account number too.

How to check ROYCUS3M before you pay

Ask the recipient to send you their account details directly from their banking app. When the code you were given differs from ROYCUS3M or ROYCUS3MXXX, stop and ask: check with the recipient or with Royal Bank of Canada directly.

An incorrect BIC can cause delays, a returned payment or extra fees for investigation. Do not forget the IBAN: a mistake there can be harder to correct than a wrong BIC.

An automatic check by your bank only tells you that the IBAN exists – not that it belongs to the person you mean to pay. If your bank offers it, a name check on the recipient gives an extra layer of safety. When you pay someone new, some people start with a small amount first.

Sending money abroad from Royal Bank of Canada

If you send money to another country from Royal Bank of Canada, the fee you see is only part of what you pay. Besides the transfer fee, banks in between may take a cut, and when the money changes currency, the bank often uses a rate that is less favourable than the actual market rate.

Most of the cost usually sits in the exchange rate: the bank converts at a rate with a margin built in. Compare the rate you are offered against the mid-market rate, the midpoint between buy and sell rates you see on financial sites; the gap is what conversion costs you.

For a lot of currency pairs, a specialist provider is less expensive than a traditional bank transfer. Before your next transfer, take a minute to compare the total cost via GoldexPay rather than accepting the bank’s rate by default. You can still keep your account at Royal Bank of Canada, while a cheaper service handles the conversion.

Changed bank details? Be careful

Criminals often use payment requests with new bank details sent from what looks like a familiar address. A valid SWIFT code tells you nothing about who owns the account.

Never rely on a phone number in the same message that contains the new account. Urgency and requests to keep it quiet tend to be warning signs. If money has already gone to the wrong account, contact your bank immediately – speed improves the chance of getting it back.

People receiving money are targeted too: a classic trick is an overpayment and then sends a request to send back the difference. Do not act before the money has really arrived and check with Royal Bank of Canada if anything seems off.

Sending USD to Royal Bank of Canada

Most accounts at Royal Bank of Canada are usually held in USD, the national currency of United States. If you send another currency it has to be converted at some point. Every conversion costs something – usually through the rate rather than a fee.

Who converts the payment matters: every bank has its own margin. Transferring the amount directly in USD often avoids an extra conversion by Royal Bank of Canada, provided the rate you get is fair.

The USD rate fluctuates throughout the day and quotes are often valid only for a short time. For regular payments, a slightly better rate make a real difference over time.

What the XXX in ROYCUS3MXXX means

A BIC is made up of a few fixed parts: the first four letters stand for the bank, the next two give the country and characters seven and eight indicate the location. Together, those parts form ROYCUS3M.

The 11-character version has a three-character extension that identify a branch or department. When those three characters are XXX, the code points to the head office.

Do not add spaces, dots when you type ROYCUS3M. Look out for the letter O and the digit 0 or the letter I and the digit 1, a common source of typos.

Choosing between the 5 SWIFT codes of Royal Bank of Canada

With 5 codes in 2 locations, Royal Bank of Canada belongs to the banks that register individual codes for branches and departments. The head office code is ROYCUS3MXXX.

Unless the recipient tells you otherwise, use ROYCUS3MXXX. Just use a branch code when the account holder gives you that exact code, for example on an invoice or in their bank details.

The safest route is to copy the code straight from the recipient’s statement. Codes are sometimes changed or retired when banks reorganise, so a code from an old document is not always valid.

What to give a sender who pays you at Royal Bank of Canada

A sender in another country needs a few details from you – incomplete details often cause delays. What they need is: your name, IBAN or account number, ROYCUS3MXXX or ROYCUS3M and in many cases your postal address.

Some sending banks want the name and address of Royal Bank of Canada, so keep it at hand. Double-check the details before you send them – a sender rarely spots a mistake in someone else’s details.

Do not be surprised if the incoming amount is below the amount on the sender’s receipt. Charges on incoming payments differ per bank – the price list of Royal Bank of Canada tells you what applies. Make clear with the sender who covers the fees.

Transfer times and tracking a payment to Royal Bank of Canada

A SWIFT payment usually needs anywhere from one to several business days – it depends on currency, route and the banks in between. Bank holidays in either country can add extra days. Sometimes a bank wants to know what the payment is for.

A growing number of banks are connected to SWIFT gpi. Each gpi transfer gets a unique transaction reference, the UETR that banks can use to trace it. Save the payment confirmation; it contains the details a bank needs to start a trace.

A missing payment has to be investigated from the sending side, using the payment confirmation. On the receiving end, it helps to look at your statements to see a slightly lower amount, since fees may have been deducted.

Where our SWIFT data comes from

This directory draws on publicly available sources. Still, banks merge, rename themselves or retire codes, so information can be out of date. Counts and locations come from our directory and are not confirmed by Royal Bank of Canada.

Before a payment that matters, always confirm the BIC with the recipient’s bank or with the recipient. We are a comparison site for money transfers and not part of Royal Bank of Canada. Found outdated information? Tell us through the contact page and we will look into it.