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Adding beneficiaries

Before you make a payment to someone, you must first add them as a beneficiary.

You can add a beneficiary in three ways: enter their details manually, bulk upload several at once using a CSV file, or invite the beneficiary to submit their own details by email.

A beneficiary is set up for one currency. If you need to pay the same company or person in more than one currency, add a separate beneficiary for each.

Adding a beneficiary manually

  1. Click + New in the Beneficiaries section.

  2. Select the currency.

  3. Select beneficiary type — Individual or Business.

  4. Select a payment type — either the local payment rails for the country of the beneficiary's bank, or SWIFT.

  5. Enter the beneficiary details. These are internal details that help you identify the beneficiary within the platform:

    • Display name

    • Beneficiary ID

    • Email

    • Mobile

  6. Enter the account details. These are the details used to actually process your payment, so they must match what appears on your beneficiary's bank account:

    • Name

    • Number

    • Routing

    • SWIFT/BIC

    Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk (*). Where a field has a length or format limit, the limit is shown as helper text beneath the field — for example "Up to 30 characters" on the account number, or "8 or 11 characters" on SWIFT/BIC.

  7. Enter the address. Address lines 1 to 4 are all shown; which ones are mandatory depends on the currency (see below).

What each currency needs

GBP

EUR

USD

AED

Account identifier

Sort code and account number

IBAN

Routing number (9 digits) and account number

UAE IBAN (starts AE, 23 characters)

Beneficiary name

Up to 35 characters

Up to 35 characters

Up to 35 characters

Up to 75 characters

SWIFT/BIC

Optional

Optional

Mandatory

Optional

Address line 1

Required

Required

Required

Required

Address line 2

Required

Required

Required

Optional

Address lines 3 and 4

Optional

Optional

Optional

Optional

Country

Required

Required

Required

Required

Applies to all currencies:

  • No digits in the beneficiary name when the beneficiary type is Individual. Business names may contain digits.

  • Address lines are up to 50 characters each.

  • Commas are fine in names and addresses — Acme, Inc. and Flat 3, 12 High St are both accepted.

  • Line breaks are not accepted in any field and will cause the beneficiary to be rejected. If you are pasting an address in from elsewhere, paste it one line at a time.

Payment types and routing

Which rails a payment can travel on depends on the currency. In most cases you do not choose the rail — it is selected automatically based on the beneficiary's details and the payment amount.

  • GBP — Local payments are sent via Faster Payments.

  • EUR — Local payments are sent via SEPA.

  • USD — routed automatically via Fedwire or SWIFT. ACH is not supported.

  • AED — routed automatically via IPP for payments under AED 50,000, FTS for payments over AED 50,000, or SWIFT for international transfers through UAE banks.

Intermediary bank details

Intermediary bank fields appear only for payment types where they may be needed — generally SWIFT payments. They are optional.

There is no way to know in advance whether an intermediary bank is required for a particular beneficiary. If a SWIFT payment fails or is returned and the reason points to routing, edit the beneficiary to add the intermediary details and try again. Your beneficiary's bank can tell you what to use.

  • Intermediary SWIFT/BIC — 8 or 11 characters.

  • Intermediary account number — up to 25 characters.

Bulk uploading beneficiaries

Click + New, then choose the upload option and select your CSV file.

Group your beneficiaries into separate files by currency, so that every row in a file follows the same set of rules.

Each row is validated against exactly the same rules as manual entry, so the requirements in the table above apply identically.

Your file needs:

  • Beneficiary name — up to 35 characters (up to 75 for AED). No digits if the type is Individual.

  • Type — Individual or Business.

  • Currency.

  • Address line 1 and country code (2-letter ISO code, e.g. GB, AE).

  • Address line 2 — required for GBP, EUR and USD.

  • Account identifier — IBAN for EUR and AED; sort code and account number for GBP; routing number and account number for USD.

  • SWIFT/BIC — required for USD, optional otherwise.

How the upload behaves:

  • Your file is parsed and checked before anything is saved, and you will see a preview of the result.

  • Duplicates are detected so the same beneficiary cannot be created twice.

  • There is a maximum of 500 beneficiaries per file.

Why a beneficiary might be rejected

The most common reasons:

  • A digit in an Individual's name. Change the type to Business if the name genuinely contains numbers.

  • The name is too long. 35 characters for GBP, EUR and USD; 75 for AED.

  • A missing address line 2 on a GBP, EUR or USD beneficiary.

  • A line break pasted into a name or address field.

  • A missing SWIFT/BIC on a USD beneficiary, where it is mandatory.

  • An IBAN that fails its checksum, or a UAE IBAN that isn't 23 characters starting AE.

  • A routing number that isn't exactly 9 digits.

If you are unsure which fields apply to a particular country and currency, start a manual entry and select the currency, country and beneficiary type — the form shows the required fields for that combination.

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