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🇵🇦 Sending to Panama

PA · PAN

PAB

National format   SWIFT BIC required

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Required information

  • Account number

    Variable, typically 10-20 digits; not standardized across the 60+ licensed banks in Panama

  • SWIFT BIC

    Beneficiary bank BIC (8 or 11 characters).

  • SWIFT BIC (no domestic numeric routing code published by SBP)

    8 or 11-character SWIFT BIC; ACH Xpress (Telered) uses internal participant IDs not exposed to senders

  • Purpose-of-payment code (strongly advised)

    Free-text purpose; SBP Rule 2-2017 sets originator/beneficiary data only and no purpose requirement

  • Beneficiary address

    Match the address template — partial addresses cause holds.

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.

  • Currency

    PAB

  • Typical settlement

    Same/next business day intra-zone; 1-2 days for non-zone correspondents.

  • SWIFT BIC

    Required

  • Local clearing

    SECP — Sistema Electrónico de Compensación de Pagos (Superintendencia de Bancos)

Account format

How beneficiary account numbers are structured for Panama. Failure to match this format is the single most common reason wires are rejected at the destination.

Field Value
Format tier National format
Length Variable, typically 10-20 digits; not standardized across the 60+ licensed banks in Panama
Validation regex ^[0-9]{8,20}$
Example 0301234567890123

Routing identifiers

Which routing codes the wire-creation API call must include for Panama.

Field Value
SWIFT BIC Required
SWIFT BIC (no domestic numeric routing code published by SBP) Required
Format 8 or 11-character SWIFT BIC; ACH Xpress (Telered) uses internal participant IDs not exposed to senders
Directory ↗ Source
Local clearing SECP — Sistema Electrónico de Compensación de Pagos (Superintendencia de Bancos)

Address format

How Panama expects the beneficiary address to appear on the wire. Free-form variations frequently trigger compliance holds.

  1. Recipient Full Name
  2. Street/Edificio + Number, Piso/Apto OR Apartado Postal Number
  3. 4-digit Postal Code
  4. Corregimiento/Distrito
  5. Province
  6. PANAMA
Field Value
Postal code Optional — validated against the format below when provided
Postal code regex ^[0-9]{4}$
Example María González, Apartado Postal 0832-2345, 0832 Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá, PANAMA

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 Panama, the purpose is placed in <RmtInf> (remittance info), not the standard <Purp> element.

Field Value
Code format Free-text purpose; SBP Rule 2-2017 sets originator/beneficiary data only and no purpose requirement
Authoritative source ↗ View source

Operational notes

Field Value
Currencies accepted PAB
Typical settlement Same/next business day intra-zone; 1-2 days for non-zone correspondents.
Banking holidays ↗ Calendar

Known issues:

  • No nationally standardized account length; each of Panama's licensed banks sets its own format.
  • Postal codes (4-digit, introduced 2007) are largely unenforced; most addresses still rely on Apartado Postal box numbers and street descriptions.
  • Correos de Panamá does not deliver door-to-door; courier or P.O. box addresses are standard.

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).
SBP Acuerdo 2-2017 requires complete originator + beneficiary identity (name, address, account, ID) to accompany the wire end-to-end; missing fields cause hold/return by Panamanian bank.
Panama is on increased-monitoring lists periodically; enhanced due diligence at correspondent banks is common and slows settlement.
USD and PAB (Balboa) circulate at 1:1; payments labeled PAB sometimes auto-converted to USD by intermediary banks causing reconciliation issues.

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.

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