how is a wire transfer done 
a wire transfer is most often used to transfer funds from one bank or financial institution to another no physical money is transferred between banks or financial institutions when conducting a wire transfer instead information is passed between banking institutions about the recipient the bank receiving account number and the amount transferred the sender first pays for the transaction upfront at their bank the sending bank sends a message to the recipient s bank with payment instructions through a secure system such as fedwire or swift the recipient s bank receives all the necessary information from the initiating bank and deposits its own reserve funds into the correct account the two banking institutions then settle the payment on the back end after the money has already been deposited 