Wire Transfer

A wire transfer is a transfer of money, made electronically. The most common type of wire transfer is the bank wire transfer - money is transferred from one bank account to another. Another type of money transfer is a wire transfer done in a cash office.

Bank Wire Transfer

A bank wire transfer is a financial transaction, which you initiate with your bank. Essentially the bank wire gives permission to the bank to transfer certain amount of funds from one of your bank accounts to another bank account. The money is sent electronically from your account to the receiver's bank account, and the bank charges you fee for the wire service.

Bank Wire Transfers in Canada

In Canada the domestic bank wire transfers are facilitated by an electronic wire transfer system called Large Value Transfer System (LVTS), which was introduced in the beginning of 1999 by the Canadian Payment Association. The members of the Canadian Payment Association (Bank of Canada, domestic banks, and some foreign banks and loan companies), have existing payment arrangements between each other in order to make possible the transfers between bank accounts. The financial institutions that are not members of the Canadian Payment Association have arrangements with one or more of the members in order to be able to do wire transfers.

Bank Wire Transfers in US

In US the domestic bank wire transfers are facilitated by the Fedwire system managed by the Federal Reserve Banks, which is similar to the Canadian Large Value Transfer System.

International Bank Wire Transfers

The majority of international bank wire transfers are done through SWIFT, which is short for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. The SWIFT runs international financial messaging system, which facilitates international bank wire transfers. Each bank or financial institution participating in SWIFT has unique Bank Identifier Code (often called SWIFT code) used to identify the participants in international money transactions.

Bank Wire Transfers Conclusion

Bank wire transfers are very convenient and secure method of transferring money between bank accounts. The bank wire transfers are safe, because the identity of both the sender and the receiver is known and the bank wire settlement instructions are sent electronically and are encrypted. Canadian banks offer bank wire transfers to almost anywhere in the world and in many different currencies. The cost of a bank wire is different for different financial institutions, but in general wire transfers are costly.

Cash Office Wire Transfer

The cash office wire transfers are anonymous and the sender and the receiver do not need to have bank accounts. Western Union is a company, which offers wire transfers worldwide and doesn't require its customers to have a bank account or account with Western Union. Another company, which offers cash wire transfers, is MoneyGram. To do a cash wire transfer the customer simply walks in the Western Union, MoneyGram, or any other business location, which offers money wiring services and pays the amount of cash they want to send plus service fees. The customer instructs the sending office to which other office of the company to send the money, and then the receiver can pick up their cash at the receiving office. Cash wire transfers are riskier, compared to bank wire transfers.