Comment by nibbleshifter

To be fair here, they are handy if the bank wakes up one day and decides you are a wrong 'un for no good reason.

Or if you are transacting with someone with a funny sounding name, or who lives in a developing country (especially in MENA).

You can conduct your business without worrying about intermediary risk.

Hell, I've had bizarre issues in the past trying to make transfers between some large American banks and a number of European banks, the transactions just get "stuck" for a couple weeks, then get refunded, because somewhere in the middle something goes tits up.