47-4A208. Misdescription of intermediary bank
or beneficiary's bank
A. The following rules apply 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. The following rules apply 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 subsection B, paragraph
1 of this section, 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 writing 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 section 47-4A302, subsection A, paragraph 1.
|