Skip to content
USDUS dollar

USD correspondent banking: who clears the US dollar

Most non-US banks reach dollar clearing through a correspondent with a US presence, which is why USD chains are typically the longest. USD settles through Fedwire and CHIPS.

USD in the instruction data

Aggregate figures from the current SWIFT standing settlement instruction dataset.

7,124
banks publish a USD instruction
1,662
correspondents serve USD
42%
served by the top three
218
countries represented

Individual instructions, BICs and account numbers are available to subscribers.

Tracing a USD chain

Each instruction names the institution holding that bank's USD account. Following those links repeatedly ends at a bank that publishes no onward USD instruction — the ultimate clearer, with direct access to Fedwire and CHIPS. That is where the money actually settles before moving inwards to the beneficiary.

Who clears USD payments?
USD settles through Fedwire and CHIPS. Banks without direct access hold a nostro account with a correspondent that has it, so a USD payment reaches the beneficiary by settling at that correspondent first and moving inwards. In the current dataset 1,662 distinct institutions act as USD correspondents.
How concentrated is USD clearing?
The three largest USD correspondents between them serve about 42% of the banks that publish a USD instruction. Concentration matters because the withdrawal of one correspondent can affect a large number of respondent banks at once.
How do I find a bank's USD correspondent?
Search the bank's BIC, select USD, and the chain resolves hop by hop to the institution that clears the currency, including the nostro account number on each relationship.
Trace a USD chainHow it works

Other currencies