🇹🇲 Sending to Turkmenistan¶
TM · TKM
National format SWIFT BIC required
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Required information¶
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 Turkmenistan)
Account format¶
How beneficiary account numbers are structured for Turkmenistan. Failure to match this format is the single most common reason wires are rejected at the destination.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Format tier | National format |
| Length | 20-digit CIS-style account number (same Soviet-legacy 20-digit structure as TJ, KZ, UZ). Turkmenistan has not adopted IBAN. |
| Validation regex | ^[0-9]{20}$ |
| Example | 23211930181010100000 |
Routing identifiers¶
Which routing codes the wire-creation API call must include for Turkmenistan.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| SWIFT BIC | Required |
| MFO (national bank routing code) | Required |
| Format | 9-digit MFO code |
| Directory | ↗ Source |
| Local clearing | RTGS (Central Bank of Turkmenistan) |
Address format¶
How Turkmenistan expects the beneficiary address to appear on the wire. Free-form variations frequently trigger compliance holds.
- Recipient Full Name
- Street + Building
- Etrap (district)
- City
- Postal Code
- TURKMENISTAN
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Postal code | Optional — validated against the format below when provided |
| Postal code regex | ^7[45][0-9]{4}$ |
| Example | Bitarap Turkmenistan St 81, Ashgabat 744000, Turkmenistan |
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: Mandatory (confirmed)
GIB check: a missing or unexpected purpose is reported as a validation warning; the wire is not held.
Non-standard element
For Turkmenistan, the purpose is placed in <RmtInf> (remittance info), not the standard <Purp> element.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Code format | Free-text detailed purpose plus contract/invoice reference |
| Source | ↗ Nium Turkmenistan |
Operational notes¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Currencies accepted | TMT |
| Typical settlement | 1-2 business days typical; longer for cross-border with FX or compliance review. |
| Banking holidays | ↗ Calendar |
Known issues:
- Tight CBT FX controls: limits on currency conversion and profit repatriation make payments to foreign suppliers materially difficult; debit-card FX limits near USD 15/day, USD 150/month.
- Since January 2016 CBT prevents banks from selling USD at retail exchange points.
- Only one foreign-partnered commercial bank operates (Turkmen-Turkish Bank with Ziraat Bank); no US bank correspondents.
- Cash-only vendor settlement increasingly common because bank-account FX access is unreliable.
- Not FATF grey-listed as of 13 February 2026 but US State Department flags as high-risk operating environment.
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).
CBT FX approval not obtained for outbound transactions exceeding the freely available currency limit.
Capital-movement transactions (trade credits, direct investment, loans) not registered with authorised credit institution.
Notification not filed within 10 banking days for sub-10% equity acquisitions or foreign real-property purchases.
Black-market rate divergence (approx 6x the official rate in 2024) creates settlement-value disputes.
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.