African Bank SWIFT Codes & How to Receive Money

Verified SWIFT/BIC codes for 110 banks across 9 major African markets — and the practical guide for receiving international money, domestic transfers, or mobile money wallet deposits.

Country directory

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Ghana

12 banks · GHS

Instant rail: GIP

GCB Bank · Ecobank Ghana · StanChart Ghana

Instant rail: PesaLink

KCB · Equity Bank · Co-op Bank

Instant rail: virement bancaire

BNI Madagascar · BOA Madagascar · BFV-SG

GTBank · Access Bank · First Bank

Bank of Kigali · I&M Bank Rwanda · Equity Bank Rwanda

Instant rail: PayShap

Standard Bank · Absa · Nedbank

Instant rail: STAR-UEMOA

Ecobank Togo · Orabank Togo · BTCI / IBB Togo

Instant rail: RTGS / EFT

Stanbic Bank · Centenary Bank · Absa Bank Uganda

View directory →

What is a SWIFT code?

A SWIFT code (also called a BIC, Business Identifier Code) is the standardised identifier for a bank in the SWIFT payment network. It is governed by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication — a cooperative founded in 1973 and headquartered in La Hulpe, Belgium — which operates the messaging rails that carry the vast majority of cross-border bank-to-bank instructions worldwide. Without a valid SWIFT code, an international wire literally cannot find its destination.

The code is either 8 or 11 characters and follows a strict structure: 4 letters for the bank, 2 letters for the country (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2), 2 characters for the location (a city or institutional position), and an optional 3 characters for a specific branch. An 8-character code identifies the head office; an 11-character code with the trailing 'XXX' also designates the head office. Codes ending in other branch suffixes refer to specific branches.

One technical detail worth knowing: if the second character of the location code is a '1', the institution is a passive participant on the SWIFT network — meaning it can receive messages but not actively initiate them. This rarely affects everyday users but matters for institutional flows.

SWIFT vs IBAN vs Sort Code vs NUBAN

Four different codes, four different uses. Most SWIFT-code aggregators don't make the distinction — Africa is different.

Code	Used for	African countries	Example
SWIFT / BIC	Identifies the bank for international wires	All	GTBINGLA
IBAN	Identifies a specific bank account	WAEMU, Maghreb, Egypt (NOT Nigeria/Ghana/Kenya/SA/Tanzania)	SN08SN01010001…
NUBAN	10-digit account number	Nigeria only	0123456789
Sort code	6-digit internal routing code	Ghana (via GhIPSS), United Kingdom	10-20-30
Branch code	Identifies a specific branch	Kenya, Tanzania, others	001 / 005

How money actually reaches you in Africa

In African markets, receiving money isn't a single operation — it's a graph: SWIFT wire ↔ bank account ↔ mobile money wallet ↔ cash-out. Each country has its own instant rail wiring these nodes together in real time. That's why a remittance to your MTN MoMo wallet can be delivered faster and cheaper than a SWIFT wire to your bank.

Nigeria: NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) connects every licensed bank + OPay, PalmPay, Moniepoint, MoMo PSB wallets. Ghana: GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP) wires banks to MTN MoMo, Telecel Cash, AirtelTigo Money. Kenya: PesaLink connects banks to each other, and M-Pesa via two-way Paybill. South Africa: PayShap enables real-time payments via ShapID (a phone-number proxy). Tanzania: TIPS, run by the central bank, interconnects M-Pesa, Mixx by Yas, Airtel Money, Halopesa, and all banks.

Practical consequence: if you're receiving international money, your endpoint doesn't have to be your bank account. You can pick the optimal channel (bank, wallet, cash-out) for the cost, speed, and liquidity you need. This is the structural advantage of African financial infrastructure over more bank-centric economies.

See our dedicated pages: inbound transfer comparisons · mobile money fees by country.

3 ways to receive an international transfer

Method 1

SWIFT wire

The sender needs your SWIFT/BIC code + account number. Timing is typically 1-5 business days with a US$15-30 fee on the sending side plus an FX margin. Best for large amounts (above US$50,000) or formal contexts (international salary, property purchase, B2B transactions). For everyday remittance, the app methods below are almost always cheaper and faster.

Method 2

Remittance app to bank

Wise, LemFi, Sendwave, TapTap Send, Remitly and Lemonade Finance deposit directly into your bank account. Fees typically run 0.5% to 2% with a rate near the interbank mid-market. Timing is minutes to hours depending on the app and your bank. This is the sweet spot for amounts between US$100 and US$10,000.

Method 3

Remittance app to wallet

WorldRemit, Sendwave, Afriex, Flutterwave Send and Chipper Cash deposit directly into MTN MoMo, M-Pesa, OPay, or Telecel Cash. No bank account needed — the wallet is a first-class destination. Instant, with easy cash-out at any agent. Best for last-mile, rural areas, or beneficiaries without bank access.

SWIFT & IBAN validators

Check the format of a SWIFT code or the checksum of an IBAN before initiating a wire.

Validate a SWIFT code

Check any SWIFT/BIC code is correctly formatted before a transfer.

Validate an IBAN

Why MomoCalc

Global SWIFT directories like Wise and theswiftcodes.com work in the reverse direction: a European or American looking up an African bank's code to send a wire. MomoCalc works from Africa outward: you're preparing to receive, and in Africa receiving runs through an interconnected graph of SWIFT wires, bank accounts, mobile money wallets, and cash-out — all over local rails (NIP, GhIPSS, PesaLink, PayShap, TIPS).

Codes verified against 2 independent sources (Wise, TheSwiftCodes, or the bank's official website).
Last-verified date shown on every bank page.
Live mobile money fee data pulled from our live database — not just a code lookup.
Full receiving-journey map: wire → bank → wallet → cash-out.
African-context profiles (domestic rails, diaspora flows, FX market) absent from global aggregators.

Find your bank's SWIFT code

There are three reliable ways to find your bank's SWIFT code. First, check your bank app — most Nigerian, Ghanaian, Kenyan, South African and Tanzanian banks display the SWIFT code in the "international account details" or "receive international transfer" section of their app. Second, check a bank statement: the code typically appears on the cover page or in the bank-details section.

Third, use our directory above: we list 110 verified banks across 9 African markets, each code confirmed against 2 independent sources. Open your country, find your bank, and copy the code with one click. The SWIFT validator above also lets you check the format of a code you've been given before using it for a wire.

Quick access by country: Ghana · Kenya · Madagascar · Nigeria · Rwanda · South Africa · Tanzania · Togo · Uganda

FAQ

What is a SWIFT/BIC code?

A SWIFT code (also known as a BIC, Business Identifier Code) is the standardised identifier for a bank in the SWIFT payment network. It is 8 or 11 characters: 4 for the bank, 2 for the country, 2 for the location, and an optional 3 for a branch. It's what your sending bank needs to route an international wire to the correct institution.

Do all African banks use IBAN?

No. Most banks in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone and Mozambique do not use IBAN. You supply the SWIFT code plus your local account number (NUBAN in Nigeria, sort codes elsewhere). A handful of WAEMU and North-African countries do use IBAN.

Can I receive money without a bank account?

Yes. Operators like WorldRemit, Sendwave, Afriex and Flutterwave Send let a sender abroad deposit directly into a mobile money wallet (MTN MoMo, M-Pesa, OPay, etc.) without going through a bank. This is one of Africa's big structural advantages: the wallet is a first-class payment destination.

Which is cheaper: SWIFT wire or a remittance app?

For amounts under roughly US$5,000, a remittance app (Wise, LemFi, Sendwave) is almost always cheaper than a classic SWIFT wire — lower fees and a rate closer to mid-market. For larger sums (above US$50,000), a SWIFT bank wire often remains the practical choice despite the cost.

What are GhIPSS, NIP, PesaLink, PayShap, and TIPS?

These are the domestic instant-payment rails in each country. Nigeria has NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP); Ghana has GhIPSS Instant Pay (GIP); Kenya has PesaLink; South Africa has PayShap; Tanzania has TIPS. These rails interconnect banks and mobile money wallets, which is how remittance apps deliver in real time behind the scenes.

How do I find my bank's SWIFT code?

Three approaches: (1) ask your bank (via the app, chatbot, or branch); (2) check this site — we list 59 verified banks across 5 African countries; (3) use our SWIFT validator below to confirm a given code has a valid format before you use it.