Currently the messages MT103 / 103+ are used to effect a customer credit transfer and the MT 202 is used for a financial institution transfer.
In order to speed up the payment process for customer credit transfers in some cases an additional cover payment message (MT202) is sent to an intermediary bank whereas the underlying customer credit transfer (MT103 / MT103+) is sent directly to the beneficiary
bank.
The MT103 / MT 103+ can be sent directly to the next party in the transaction, who then sends the next MT 103 / MT103+ to the next party. This increases the time until the payment arrives into beneficiaries account.
Due to the availability of the new message type MT 202 COV, MT 202 should not be used anymore to order the movement of funds related to an underlying customer credit transfer that was sent with the cover method. However the previous
stated workaround should still be available to the users and MT 202 should only be used for financial institution transfers without underlying customer credit transfer.