Can a SWIFT international transfer fail if I haven't provided correspondent bank information?

Question

I'm trying to withdraw money from one not scam website and it doesn't have a field for correspondent bank.

I've tried to transfer money without it but it failed and cost me $50 in fees(I sent N and got N-50 back). My bank told me to provide correspondent info - insisted, but the website told me that I can transfer without it.

The website haven't provided any reason as to why it failed and told to ask my bank. I've called my bank and they said that they haven't received anything and haven't declined anything - it failed on the other side.

So, could a transfer have failed because of the website bank not providing correspondent bank info?

I have correspondent bank account, swift and name and its intermediary bank name and SWIFT.

Answer 1

Generally in International transfers there are 4 Banks involved. Customer's Bank [Customer who initiating the payment], also called Sender Bank. There is Sender's Correspondent Bank. Then there is Beneficiary Bank also called Receiver Bank [Bank where Beneficiary holds account]. There is Receiver's Correspondent Bank.

So Person A-> A's Bank -> A's Correspondent bank -> B's Correspondent Bank -> B's Bank -> Person B.

Depending on the currency, at times there is only one correspondent Bank. The Chain of Correspondent Bank is common knowledge and quite often if you don't provide all the details; your Bank or other Bank will fill in default details and processes the payments.

However it all depends on which bank and whether they are inclined to do so. Some bank specifically insist to use a preferred correspondent bank so if you don't specify any they may return / reject it.