Acme Citibank China Payments

This describes validations / allowed data formats for Acme payments going through Citibank China. These will be validated by Acme and further validated by the bank. These rules may be stricter than what the bank requires.

Common DefinitionsCopy Anchor Link

• SWIFT Character Set:

  • The 26 uppercase Latin letters A-Z
  • The 26 lowercase Latin letters a-z
  • The 10 digits 0-9
  • Forward slash /
  • Hyphen -
  • Question mark ?
  • Colon :
  • Left and right parentheses ( )
  • Full stop .
  • Comma ,
  • Single quote '
  • Plus sign +
  • Space

• Citi restrictions:

  • For SWIFT character set: do not start a field with any of the following characters: /, -, :
  • Acme does not apply a China bank-holiday calendar. The bank may still reject a paymentDate that is not a CN working day.

CN_ACHCopy Anchor Link

China domestic ACH transfer.

CN_RTGSCopy Anchor Link

China domestic RTGS transfer for high-value payments.

CN_TT_INTLCopy Anchor Link

Telegraphic transfer for international payments. Currency must not be CNY; use CN_TT_DOM for RMB.

CN_TT_DOMCopy Anchor Link

RMB cross-border payment. Despite the type name, this is not a domestic FCY rail. Currency must be CNY only; use CN_TT_INTL for other currencies.

SAFE BOPCopy Anchor Link

CN_TT_INTL and CN_TT_DOM payments carry China's SAFE balance of payments (BOP) declaration. Citi reports it to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. You send it in three payment fields:

Acme rejects the payment on create when a required value is missing or badly formatted (see Mandatory sub-fields). Citi checks the rest after the payment arrives, including whether the BOP code and the country are right. If they are not, Citi holds the payment until you amend it in CitiDirect.

The names in brackets below (TXREM, CONTRNO …) are the labels on Citi's CitiDirect BOP form, in case Citi refers to them.

Typical paymentCopy Anchor Link

Most payments look like this: one BOP code, not bonded goods. Replace the {…} values and keep all 6 strings, sending "" for an unused slot so the later slots stay in position.

{
  "regulatoryInstructionInfo": ["/CNS1/{remark}", "/CNIN/{invoice number}"],
  "regulatoryAmounts": [{ "amount": {same minor units as amount}, "currency": "{payment currency}" }],
  "regulatoryInformation": [
    "O/C/{BOP code}/{payment purpose}/{applicant name}",
    "/N/{phone}",
    "",
    "",
    "{unit code}/{country}",
    "{contract number}"
  ]
}

The slots are:

Code valuesCopy Anchor Link

Form type (slot [0], 1st part): use O overseas for both CN_TT_INTL and CN_TT_DOM. D domestic is not for these payment types unless Citi tells you otherwise.

Customer type (slot [0], 2nd part): C for business.

Payment purpose (slot [0], 4th part, PayType):

Bonded goods (slot [1], 2nd part, ISREF): Y if the payment is for bonded goods (保税货物), otherwise N.

Fund source (slot [3], 2nd part, optional):

BOP transaction codesCopy Anchor Link

The BOP transaction code is a 6-digit code from SAFE's 涉外收支交易分类与代码（2014版） that says what the payment is for. Refer to the BOP transaction code list provided by Citibank for every code. The first digit is the group:

Pick the code that describes the true nature of the payment, and describe the same thing in the /CNS1/ remark. Acme checks only that the code is 6 digits. A valid code that does not match the payment is caught by Citi, which holds the payment until it is amended.

When you need extra fieldsCopy Anchor Link

A code starting with 5–9: put the SAFE register number (REGNO, ≤20 characters) in slot [3] as {register number}/{fund source}, for example "REG-2024-001/F". The fund source is optional (see Code values).

A second BOP code:

• Slot [1] becomes {code 2}/{Y or N}/{phone} (use Y if bonded goods, otherwise N)
• Add { "amount": …, "currency": … } as regulatoryAmounts[1]
• Add /CNS2/{remark}, in Chinese, to regulatoryInstructionInfo

Bonded goods only (no second code): slot [1] is /Y/{phone} instead of /N/{phone}.

Example: CN_TT_INTLCopy Anchor Link

USD 10,000.00 for a technical service fee, paid in advance, to a counterparty registered in the US. Replace 12345678 with your company's organisation code.

{
  "amount": 1000000,
  "currency": "USD",
  "customerReference": "CNTT002",
  "bankChargeBearer": "SHARED",
  "regulatoryInstructionInfo": ["/CNS1/技术服务费", "/CNIN/INV-2024-001"],
  "regulatoryAmounts": [{ "amount": 1000000, "currency": "USD" }],
  "regulatoryInformation": [
    "O/C/228039/A/Zhang Wei",
    "/N/13800138000",
    "",
    "",
    "12345678/USA",
    "CTR-2024-001"
  ],
  "receiver": {
    "name": "Shanghai Export Co",
    "bank": "CITIUS33XXX",
    "bankAccountNumber": "9876543210",
    "accountName": "Shanghai Export Account Title",
    "address": {
      "line1": "100 Wall Street",
      "city": "New York",
      "state": "NY",
      "postalCode": "10005",
      "country": "US"
    }
  }
}

Example: CN_TT_DOMCopy Anchor Link

The same three fields. Use CNY for amount and regulatoryAmounts.

{
  "amount": 1000000,
  "currency": "CNY",
  "customerReference": "CNTTDOM0001",
  "bankChargeBearer": "SHARED",
  "paymentDetails": "Invoice 2024-001",
  "regulatoryInstructionInfo": ["/CNS1/技术服务费", "/CNIN/INV-2024-001"],
  "regulatoryAmounts": [{ "amount": 1000000, "currency": "CNY" }],
  "regulatoryInformation": [
    "O/C/228039/A/Zhang Wei",
    "/N/13800138000",
    "",
    "",
    "12345678/HKG",
    "CTR-2024-001"
  ],
  "receiver": {
    "name": "Kowloon Trading Co Ltd",
    "bank": "Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd",
    "bankAccountNumber": "9876543210",
    "accountName": "账户户名",
    "address": {
      "line1": "1 Garden Road",
      "city": "Hong Kong",
      "country": "HK"
    }
  }
}

Mandatory sub-fieldsCopy Anchor Link

Acme rejects a CN_TT_INTL or CN_TT_DOM payment on create when any of these is missing or invalid:

Acme also checks the shape of the three fields: