§ 4A—208. Misdescription of intermediary bank or beneficiary’s bank
(a) This subsection applies to a payment order identifying an intermediary bank or the
beneficiary’s bank only by an identifying number.
(1) The receiving bank may rely on the number as the proper identification of the intermediary
or beneficiary’s bank and need not determine whether the number identifies a bank.
(2) The sender is obliged to compensate the receiving bank for any loss and expenses incurred
by the receiving bank as a result of its reliance on the number in executing or attempting
to execute the order.
(b) This subsection applies to a payment order identifying an intermediary bank or the
beneficiary’s bank both by name and an identifying number if the name and number identify
different persons.
(1) If the sender is a bank, the receiving bank may rely on the number as the proper identification
of the intermediary or beneficiary’s bank if the receiving bank, when it executes
the sender’s order, does not know that the name and number identify different persons.
The receiving bank need not determine whether the name and number refer to the same
person or whether the number refers to a bank. The sender is obliged to compensate
the receiving bank for any loss and expenses incurred by the receiving bank as a result
of its reliance on the number in executing or attempting to execute the order.
(2) If the sender is not a bank and the receiving bank proves that the sender, before
the payment order was accepted, had notice that the receiving bank might rely on the
number as the proper identification of the intermediary or beneficiary’s bank even
if it identifies a person different from the bank identified by name, the rights and
obligations of the sender and the receiving bank are governed by subdivision (1) of
this subsection, as though the sender were a bank. Proof of notice may be made by
any admissible evidence. The receiving bank satisfies the burden of proof if it proves
that the sender, before the payment order was accepted, signed a record stating the
information to which the notice relates.
(3) Regardless of whether the sender is a bank, the receiving bank may rely on the name
as the proper identification of the intermediary or beneficiary’s bank if the receiving
bank, at the time it executes the sender’s order, does not know that the name and
number identify different persons. The receiving bank need not determine whether the
name and number refer to the same person.
(4) If the receiving bank knows that the name and number identify different persons, reliance
on either the name or the number in executing the sender’s payment order is a breach
of the obligation stated in subdivision 4A—302(a)(1) of this title. (Added 1993, No. 158 (Adj. Sess.), § 14, eff. Jan. 1, 1995; amended 2025, No. 17, § 5, eff. July 1, 2025.)