SWIFT is generally reserved for international transfers. In the United States domestic bank transfers use ACH which involves FTPing fixed-width-column EDI files

SWIFT is generally reserved for international transfers. In the United States domestic bank transfers use ACH which involves FTPing fixed-width-column EDI files to and from the Federal Reserve every night. ZenPayroll had a really good series on how it all works a few months ago: Part 1: http://engineering.zenpayroll.com/how-ach-works-a-developer-perspective-part-1/ http://engineering.zenpayroll.com/how-ach-works-a-developer-... (HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7636066 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7636066) Part 2: http://engineering.zenpayroll.com/how-ach-works-a-developer-perspective-part-2/ http://engineering.zenpayroll.com/how-ach-works-a-developer-... (HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7740967 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7740967) Part 3: http://engineering.zenpayroll.com/how-ach-works-a-developer-perspective-part-3/ http://engineering.zenpayroll.com/how-ach-works-a-developer-... (HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8007838 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8007838)