When you send or receive an international transfer with your bank, you might lose money on a bad exchange rate and pay hidden fees as a result.
This is because banks hide a fee in the exchange rate, which means that you will spend more on international money transfers than you should.
We recommend you use Wise, which is usually much cheaper. For example, 1000 EUR transfer to USD can cost you as little as 4 EUR with TransferWise, compared to 28 EUR with a bank.
732-156 is a BSB Number of Westpac Banking Corporation.
This number is assigned by the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) to help transfer funds from bank account numbers within Australia.
Format of the code
BSB is a code that consists of 6 digits. The first two digits act as identifiers of the banking institution e.g. Bank of Australia, and the remaining 4 digits the specific branch belonging in that bank. For example, the BSB code 732-156 may correspond to:
Some large financial institutions may have two BSB codes, one for trading/cheques and one for handling saving accounts. The first digit in the case of trading accounts was 0 for trading accounts and 1 for savings accounts, and the second digit was common in both cases e.g. 04 for bank’s trading accounts and 74 for their saving accounts. Although not required, some banking institutions use this two-code system for history reasons.
BSB (Bank State Branch) is a bank code used to recognize the branch of the bank. This code is also linked to the account number database of each financial organization.
The format of BSB and its account number is only is used exclusively inside the organization and the account number can be transferred between two or more financial organizations.
While Australian and New Zealand BSB systems bear many similarities in terms of structure, they are not compatible with each other. A SWIFT code is also required along with the BSB and account numbers to complete the transaction in the case of International transfers.
The BSB code is made of 6 digits, and the first 2-3 digits act as the bank identifier. This identifier is needed to perform print and digital transactions, but it’s not used for the numbering of a card payment.
Use
As said earlier, APCA is responsible for assigning BSB codes in Australian Banking Institutions. These types of codes are required for carrying out numerous payment transactions in Australia. For acquiring success to the many different systems of cheque clearance, a banking institution needs to have its own BSB code or use a intermediary code with a BSB code attached.
Paper transaction handling.
In Australia, cheque transactions are the least popular method of payment with no cash, but it’s the stronger method of payment in terms of value. Both BSB and bank account numbers should be featured by the banking institutions in MICR form to identify the number of the specific bank account that should be credited. An additional use of BSB codes is for deposit transactions and grant of vouchers. APCS or CS1 system is the system responsible for processing paper transactions, which is under the APCA system. Any accounts with no BSB identifier, need to be processed in manual basis.
Electronic transactions
EFT (Electronic Fund Transfers), are the most popular form of payment with no cash in Australia. Any EFT transactions that take place between two or more bank accounts are processed by the Direct Entry system. If this system is used to carry out these transactions, BSB and bank account codes are required for debiting one account and crediting the other. The system that handles electronic transactions is Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS), again handled by APCA. In transactions concerning the use of credit/debit cards, there is no requirement for two sided BSBs. The same applies to BPAY transactions as well.
International transactions
For the processing of incoming international transfers, SWIFT codes are required in conjunction with the BBAN (Basic Bank Account Number). Currently, there are no official discussions for the use of IBAN codes for handling international transfers. This is because, such measure should require a series of changes to the databases and digital systems of the banks and banking institutions may need to set a specific length of account numbers, which would include the country’s BBAN standards.