Cover payment

Roles that need it

• Payments Messaging Specialist (SWIFT)
• Payments Operations Analyst
• Sanctions Analyst
• Payments & Cash Management Sales (Financial Institutions)

Skills it belongs to

• Correspondent banking and financial institutions coverage
• Payment systems and messaging (SWIFT, ISO 20022, SEPA, ACH, UPI)
• Sanctions regimes and screening

Related concepts

• Correspondent bankingCorrespondent banking is an arrangement in which one bank (the correspondent) holds deposits for another bank (the respondent) and makes and receives payments for it, usually in a currency or country where the respondent has no direct access. It underpins most cross-border payments and requires due diligence on the respondent.
• pacs.009 (financial institution credit transfer)pacs.009 is the ISO 20022 message for credit transfers between banks for their own account, such as interbank loans, foreign exchange settlements and nostro funding. Its COV variant moves the cover funds for an underlying customer payment and carries the customer details. It replaces the Swift MT 202 and MT 202 COV.
• MT 103 (single customer credit transfer)MT 103 is the legacy Swift message for a single customer credit transfer between banks, with fields such as 50 (ordering customer), 59 (beneficiary), 70 (remittance information) and 71A (charges). In cross-border payments pacs.008 has replaced it, and banks still meet MT 103 data in archives, translations and investigations.
• Nostro and vostro accountsA nostro account is an account a bank holds with another bank, usually abroad and in foreign currency (our account with you). The same account seen from the bank that keeps it is a vostro (your account with us), also called a loro account. Nostros let banks make and receive payments in currencies where they have no direct system access.

Sources

• Correspondent banking, CPMI report (2016), Bank for International Settlements (external site) accessed 31 Oct 2026
• ISO 20022, Swift (external site) accessed 31 Oct 2026

Updated 31 Oct 2026.