Receiving Money From Overseas Into a CommBank Account

What to give the person sending you money

CommBank's international fees and charges page sets out exactly what an overseas sender needs, in these words: "Whoever is sending money to you needs your full name and home address. They'll also need the following." Give them:

1. Your full name and home address.
2. Bank name: Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
3. CommBank BIC/SWIFT code: CTBAAU2S.
4. Your 14-digit account number. CommBank's page shows the format as a 6-digit prefix followed by an 8-digit number (shown as "06XXXX XXXXXXXX" on the page) — log on to NetBank or the CommBank app to see the exact 14 digits for your own account, since this sits next to the account details there.

This is the complete list CommBank's own page gives — it doesn't ask for a separate CommBank branch address, only your own home address. Save the block somewhere you can copy and paste, since a wrong digit in the account number is the most common reason a transfer is delayed or bounced back to the sender.

CommBank's fee to receive an international transfer

As published on commbank.com.au (checked September 2026), CommBank's fee table lists: "For credit of a Commonwealth Bank Australian dollar (AUD) account (regardless of currency) — Up to $11.00 per transfer" and the identical figure — up to $11.00 per transfer — for crediting a CommBank Foreign Currency Account. That's CommBank's own fee for the final leg; it's separate from whatever the sender's bank, or a correspondent bank in between, charged before the money reached CommBank.

The same page covers CommBank's own outgoing transfers: sending in a foreign currency is fee-free through NetBank, the CommBank app or CommBiz, while sending Australian dollars without conversion costs $30.00 through digital channels, a branch or a manual instruction. If you'll also need to send money the other way at some point, our CommBank international transfer fees how it works covers that side, including CommBank's IMT limits and exchange-rate wording, in full.

What a correspondent bank can take before it reaches CommBank

International transfers don't always travel directly from the sender's bank to CommBank — they can pass through one or more correspondent banks along the way, and each can deduct its own handling fee before passing the payment on. CommBank publishes a guide table of average correspondent fees by currency on its bank-fees page, explicitly labelled: "The list of correspondent bank fees below is a guide only, and the actual amount deducted by an overseas bank can vary. The fees are averages based on data from third party suppliers (July 2020-June 2021)."

Sample figures from that table, charged in the currency being sent rather than in AUD: US dollars sent to the United States average USD 6, US dollars sent elsewhere average USD 16; British pounds to the UK average GBP 6, elsewhere GBP 7; Hong Kong dollars to Hong Kong average HKD 65, elsewhere HKD 255; South African rand to South Africa averages ZAR 83. The data is several years old, so treat it as an indication of scale rather than a current number. This is why the amount that actually lands in your account can be a little less than what the sender says they sent, even before CommBank's own $11.00 fee comes out. Our guide to why did I receive less money than sent international transfer covers how this layered-fee chain works generally.

How long it takes, and what CommBank's own trace service covers

CommBank's fee page doesn't state a specific number of days for crediting an incoming transfer once it reaches CommBank from a correspondent bank — timing depends on the sending country, the currency and how many banks the payment passes through. Our general guide to receiving money from overseas in Australia gives a typical range of one to five business days for a standard SWIFT transfer into an Australian bank, as a working estimate.

CommBank's own fee page does list a formal trace service, but it's built for the sending side: "Investigation of sent International Money Transfer (trace) — $25.00 per investigation includes any subsequent follow up request." That fee applies when a CommBank customer wants CommBank to investigate an IMT they sent, not to a transfer you're waiting to receive. If the person sending you money also banks with CommBank, they can ask CommBank to trace their own outgoing payment using this service; if they use a different bank, the trace request goes to that bank instead.

If the transfer hasn't shown up

CommBank's page doesn't publish a dedicated enquiry process aimed at recipients waiting on an incoming transfer. The practical steps:

1. Check NetBank or the CommBank app for a pending transaction before assuming nothing has happened — a payment still moving through a correspondent bank chain won't show as "received" yet.
2. Ask the sender for the exact amount sent and either a SWIFT tracking reference or the name of their bank and a payment reference number.
3. Have the sender raise it with the bank they used — CommBank's own $25.00 trace fee (above) is available to them if that bank was CommBank; if it wasn't, their own bank handles the trace.

ANZ's international-payments page states this principle plainly, and it holds regardless of which bank is receiving the money: "the time it takes for funds to arrive depends on the destination and financial institution sending the transfer. Only the sender can track the payment and confirm when it was sent."

Why PayID won't work for this

If you've set up a PayID on your CommBank account, it's tempting to hand that over instead of a BSB and account number — but PayID only resolves within Australia's own domestic payments system, and an overseas sender's bank has no way to look it up. There's no PayID field on an international wire transfer form; the sender needs your full name, home address, account number and CommBank's SWIFT/BIC code as set out above instead. Our guide to can I use PayID for an international transfer covers exactly why PayID and NPP infrastructure stop at the Australian border.

What's CommBank's SWIFT/BIC code?

CTBAAU2S, as published on CommBank's international fees and charges page. Some sending banks' forms ask for 11 characters — check with the sender's bank which format their system accepts.

How much does CommBank charge to receive money from overseas?

Up to $11.00 per transfer, whether it's credited to an Australian-dollar account or a CommBank Foreign Currency Account, as published on commbank.com.au (checked September 2026). That's separate from anything a correspondent bank deducted in transit.

Can I use my PayID to receive an international transfer?

No. PayID only works within Australia's domestic payments system — an overseas sender's bank can't look it up. Give them your full name, home address, account number and CommBank's SWIFT/BIC code instead.

Will I pay tax on money sent to me from overseas?

Not automatically — it depends on why the money was sent, not on receiving it. Our guide to receiving money from overseas in Australia and our guide to bringing money to Australia tax implicationss cover the difference between a tax-free gift or your own savings and taxable foreign income.

Why is less money in my account than the sender said they sent?

A correspondent bank in the payment chain may have deducted its own fee before the money reached CommBank, and CommBank's own receiving fee (up to $11.00) comes out on top of that. CommBank's correspondent-fee guide gives typical amounts by currency, though the figures are dated and described as a guide only.