🇱🇷 Sending to Liberia¶
LR · LBR
National format SWIFT BIC required
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Required information¶
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Account number
National account format; commercial banks (LBDI, Ecobank Liberia, UBA Liberia, GT Bank Liberia, IB Bank) typically issue 10-16 digit account numbers. Separate account numbers are issued per currency (LRD and USD) because of the dual-currency regime. No IBAN.
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SWIFT BIC
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BIC
ISO 9362 BIC (e.g., CBLRLRLM for the central bank, ECOCLRLM for Ecobank Liberia)
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Purpose-of-payment code (strongly advised)
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Beneficiary address
For your end users
Double-check the beneficiary's full name (no initials), account number, and bank SWIFT/BIC against what their bank has on file. International wires can take 1-5 business days and may be delayed by sanctions screening.
Last reviewed by GIB compliance on 2026-05-21. Reference material only.
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Currency
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Typical settlement
1-2 business days typical; longer for cross-border with FX or compliance review.
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SWIFT BIC
Required
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Local clearing
RTGS (Central Bank of Liberia)
Account format¶
How beneficiary account numbers are structured for Liberia. Failure to match this format is the single most common reason wires are rejected at the destination.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Format tier | National format |
| Length | National account format; commercial banks (LBDI, Ecobank Liberia, UBA Liberia, GT Bank Liberia, IB Bank) typically issue 10-16 digit account numbers. Separate account numbers are issued per currency (LRD and USD) because of the dual-currency regime. No IBAN. |
| Validation regex | ^[0-9]{10,16}$ |
| Example | 1234567890123 |
Routing identifiers¶
Which routing codes the wire-creation API call must include for Liberia.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| SWIFT BIC | Required |
| BIC | Required |
| Format | ISO 9362 BIC (e.g., CBLRLRLM for the central bank, ECOCLRLM for Ecobank Liberia) |
| Directory | ↗ Source |
| Local clearing | RTGS (Central Bank of Liberia) |
Address format¶
How Liberia expects the beneficiary address to appear on the wire. Free-form variations frequently trigger compliance holds.
- Recipient Full Name
- Street
- City
- County
- LIBERIA
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Postal code | Optional — this country has no postal code format |
| Example | Broad Street, Monrovia, Montserrado County, Liberia |
Purpose of payment¶
Put the purpose in the remittance information (<RmtInf><Ustrd>) of the ISO 20022 wire-creation request, as the code format below describes.
Requirement: Highly recommended
GIB check: a missing or unexpected purpose is reported as a validation warning; the wire is not held.
Not yet confirmed
We have not yet confirmed this country's purpose-of-payment requirement against a central-bank or correspondent-bank source. Including a purpose is recommended. We update these guides as we confirm each country.
Non-standard element
For Liberia, the purpose is placed in <RmtInf> (remittance info), not the standard <Purp> element.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Code format | Free-text detailed purpose |
Operational notes¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Currencies accepted | LRD |
| Typical settlement | 1-2 business days typical; longer for cross-border with FX or compliance review. |
| Banking holidays | ↗ Calendar |
Known issues:
- Dual-currency regime: both LRD and USD are legal tender, with USD accounting for roughly 90% of broad money supply; banking deposits and savings predominantly USD-denominated.
- Separate account numbers per currency at the same bank are the norm; sender must confirm the correct LRD-side or USD-side account number.
- No IBAN; CBL has modernised RTGS and ACP/ACH but has not adopted IBAN as of May 2026.
- No nationwide postal-code system in routine use; address validation is street-and-city only.
- Not FATF grey-listed as of 13 February 2026.
Common rejection reasons¶
Documented patterns that cause this country's banks to return wires. Universal reasons (sanctions holds, missing BIC) aren't repeated here.
Beneficiary name mismatch (initials, abbreviations, punctuation, or transliteration differences from what the beneficiary bank has on file).
Account number format error (wrong length, wrong check digits, or non-standard characters).
Missing or invalid SWIFT/BIC code.
Insufficient remittance information (unclear economic reason for the payment).
Sanctions or compliance hold (OFAC / EU / UN / local screening).
Currency-account mismatch: routing an LRD payment to a USD account (or vice versa) is rejected because Liberian banks maintain separate accounts per currency.
Inbound USD wires require correspondent bank routing (typically via US correspondents); CBL does not directly clear USD.
Since 2023 government directives prioritise LRD for domestic transactions; some retail flows now restricted from USD settlement.
Validate before you send¶
Check identifiers before you submit. The IBAN check runs in your browser (format plus the ISO 13616 MOD-97 check digit). GIB's API checks the IBAN format for countries where an IBAN is required. The BIC lookup searches GIB's BIC directory and needs a dashboard login.
BIC lookup
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References¶
First-party sources — central banks, FX regulators, ISO registries. Always re-verify against these before pushing volume to a new corridor.
Disclaimer
These country guides aggregate information from central banks, regulators, and industry-standard references. Global Innovations Bank reviews them on a rolling cadence and notes the verification date on each page. Payment-corridor rules change between releases, so we cannot guarantee continued accuracy.
Always verify against the primary sources linked in the References section before going live in a new corridor. Re-check applicable sanctions lists (OFAC, EU, UK, UN consolidated, and any state-level requirements) at the time of payment, since designations shift between our refreshes.
For fintech partners on GIB's sponsor-bank rails, these guides do not replace your BSA/AML, KYC, sanctions-screening, or transaction-monitoring obligations under your program agreement with GIB.
Nothing in this material constitutes legal, tax, or regulatory advice, and wire-acceptance decisions remain at the discretion of GIB Compliance and the destination bank.