The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is an international standard for identifying bank accounts across national borders. It was originally adopted by the European
Committee for Banking Standards, and was later adopted as ISO 13616:1997 and now as ISO 13616:2003. The official IBAN
registrar under ISO 13616:2003 is SWIFT and
the IBAN registry is currently at SWIFT.
The IBAN was developed to facilitate payments within the European Union. Customers,
especially individuals and SMEs, are frequently confused by differing
national standards for bank account numbers. The IBAN is not yet used for routing, because the IBAN has not been widely adopted outside Europe, among other reasons. The
ECBS expects that adoption may take up to ten years, so it remains necessary to use the current
ISO 9362 Bank Identifier Code system (BIC or SWIFT code) in conjunction with the BBAN or IBAN.
At present, the United States does not participate in IBAN. Any adoption of the IBAN
standard by U.S. banks would likely be initiated by ANSI ASC X9, the U.S. financial services
standards development organization.
Currently all European non-CIS countries, as well as some African countries, and Turkey participate in the IBAN system, while
the rest of the world remains outside of it. British dependencies (except Gibraltar and the Crown Dependencies) don't participate
in the IBAN system.
The IBAN consists of a ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country
code, followed by two check digits (represented by kk in the examples below), and up to thirty alphanumeric
characters for the domestic bank account number, called the BBAN (Basic Bank Account Number). It is up to each country's national
banking community to decide on the length of the BBAN for accounts in that country, but its length must be fixed for any given
country.
The IBAN must not contain spaces when stored electronically. When printed on paper, however, the norm is to express it in
groups of four characters, the last group being of variable length.
Examples
- Andorra (24 digits) IBAN format: ADkk BBBB SSSS CCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- B = bank code, S = sort code, C = account No.
- Austria (20) IBAN format: ATkk BBBB BCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- B = bank code, C = account No.
- Belgium (16) IBAN format: BEkk BBBC CCCC CCCC
-
- The last 12 digits represent: B = bank code, C = account No.
-
- B = bank code, S = sort code, C = account No., K = check digits
- Bulgaria (22) IBAN format BGkk BBBB SSSS DDCC CCCC CC
-
- B = alphanumeric bank code (first four letters of SWIFT BIC), S = Branch (BAE) number, D = numeric account type, C =
alphanumeric account No. Introduced on June 5, 2006.
- Croatia (21) IBAN format: HRkk BBBB BBBC CCCC CCCC C
-
- B = bank code, C = account No.
- Cyprus (28) IBAN format: CYkk BBBS SSSS CCCC CCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- B = bank code, S = sort code, C = account No.
-
- B = bank code, C = account No.
- Denmark (18) IBAN format: DKkk BBBB CCCC CCCC CC
-
- B = bank No., C = account No.
- Estonia (20) IBAN format: EEkk BBBB CCCC CCCC CCCK
-
- B = bank code, C = account No., K = check digit
-
- Same as Denmark, except for the country code.
- Finland (18) IBAN format: FIkk BBBB BBCC CCCC CK
-
- B = bank code, branch number and account type, C = account No., K = check digit of the Finnish account numbering scheme.
- France (27) IBAN format: FRkk BBBB BGGG GGCC CCCC CCCC CKK
-
- B = bank code, G = code guichet (branch), C = account No.
- Germany (22) IBAN format: DEkk BBBB BBBB CCCC CCCC CC
-
- B = sort code (BLZ), C = account No.
- Gibraltar (23) IBAN format: GIkk BBBB CCCC CCCC CCCC CCC
-
- B = first part of BIC, C = account No.
- Greece (27) IBAN format: GRkk BBB BBBB CCCC CCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- K = check digits of the Greek account numbering scheme, B = bank code and branch number, C = account No.
- Greenland (18) IBAN format: GLkk CCCC CCCC CCCC CC
-
- Same as Denmark, except for the country code.
- Hungary (28) IBAN format: HUkk BBBB BBBC CCCC CCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- B = bank code, C = account No.
- Iceland (26) IBAN format: ISkk BBBB CCCC CCCC XXXX XXXX XX
-
- The first 4-digit group represents the bank code, the next two 4-digit goups represent the
account and the last ten digits are the account holder's unique ID number, issued by the Bureau of Statistics.
-
- The first 4 alphanumeric characters are the start of the SWIFT code. Then a 6 digit long routing
code and an 8 digit account code follow, both numeric.
- Italy (27) IBAN format: ITkk ABBB BBCC CCCX XXXX XXXX XXX
-
- The first 11 alphanumeric characters represent the bank A is the CIN (or CIN BBAN to distinguish from "kk" called CIN IBAN).
So: IT is the country, kk is the CIN EU, A the CIN IT, BBBBB is the ABI, CCCCC is the CAB, and the last 12 digits the
account.
- Latvia (21) IBAN format: LVkk BBBB CCCC CCCC CCCC C
-
- The first two letters (LV) means Latvia, next is 2 control digits, after bank's SWIFT code, next is account individual number (which can
include both letters and numbers).
-
- Same as Switzerland except for the country code.
- Lithuania (20) IBAN format: LTkk BBBB BCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- B = bank code, C = account No.
- Luxembourg (20) IBAN format: LUkk BBBC CCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- B = bank code, C = account No.
-
- B = bank code, C = account No., K = check digits
- Malta (31) IBAN format: MTkk BBBB SSSS SCCC CCCC CCCC CCCC CCC
-
- B = fist part of BIC, S = sort code, C = account No.
- Monaco (27) IBAN format: MCkk BBBB BGGG GGCC CCCC CCCC CKK
-
- Same as France except for the country code.
- Morocco (24) IBAN format: MAkk BBBA AACC CCCC CCCC CCKK
-
- BBB = Bank Code, AAA = Area code, C = Account number, KK = "key"
- Netherlands (sometimes referred to as Holland) (18) IBAN format: NLkk BBBB CCCC CCCC
CC
-
- The first 4 alphanumeric characters represent a bank and the last 10 digits an account.
- Norway (15) IBAN format: NOkk BBBB CC CCCCC
-
- The first 4 alphanumeric characters represent a bank and the last 11 digits an account.
- Poland (28) IBAN format: PLkk BBBB BBBk CCCC CCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- B = bank code (1-3 institution ID, 4-7 branch), C =
account No., kk = check digits. There are no letters in the code. The single "k" after bank code is the now redundant check digit
of the former system, preserved in IBAN.
- Portugal (25) IBAN format: PTkk BBBB BBBB CCCC CCCC CCCK K
-
- B = bank code (1-4 bank, 5-8 branch; some banks don't identify the branch and use '0000' for digits 5-8), C = account No., K
= check digits. As a matter of fact, due to the fact that Portuguese BBAN uses the same validation checksum as IBAN (ISO 7064 mod
97-10 calculation), Portuguese IBAN always start by PT50, followed by the 21-digit BBAN (or NIB, Número de Identificação
Bancária).
- Romania (24) IBAN format: ROkk BBBB CCCC CCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- The first 4 alphanumeric characters represent the bank; according to a rule established by the Romanian National Bank, the
BBBB code must be the same with the first 4 characters of the bank's identifier code. The last
16 represent the specific bank branch and an account, combined any way the bank decides (typically the first 4 among the 16
identify the branch). Some banks include the ISO 4217 currency identifier somewhere in the
account name.
- San Marino (27) IBAN format: SMkk ABBB BBCC CCCX XXXX XXXX XXX
-
- Same as Italy except for the country code.
- Serbia (22) IBAN format: RSkk BBBC CCCC CCCC CCCC CC
-
- B = bank code, C = account No.
- Slovakia (24) IBAN format: SKkk BBBB CCCC CCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- B = bank code, C = account No.
- Slovenia (19) IBAN format: SIkk BB BBB CCCCCCCC KK
-
- The first 2 BB digits represent a bank, the next 3 - the branch. The last 2 digits (KK) are the check digits. IBAN check
digits (kk) for Slovenia are 5 and 6.
- Spain (24) IBAN format: ESkk BBBB GGGG KKCC CCCC CCCC
-
- B = bank code, G=Branch/office number, K=Check digits, C = account No.
- Sweden (24) IBAN format: SEkk BBBB CCCC CCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- The Bs represent the bank code and the Cs the account number.
- Switzerland (21) IBAN format: CHkk BBBB BCCC CCCC CCCC C
-
- B = bank code, C = account No.
- Turkey (26) IBAN format: TRkk BBBB BRCC CCCC CCCC CCCC CC
-
- The total number of alphanumeric characters including the country code and the check digits is 26. The first 5 digits
represent a bank. The next alphanumeric character, reserved for future use, is set to zero. The following 16 alphanumeric
characters represent the specific bank branch and an account. The issuing start date of the Turkish IBAN was: September 1, 2005 [1].
- Tunisia (24) IBAN format: TNkk BBBB BCCC CCCC CCCC CCCC
-
- B = bank code, C = account No.
-
- B = alphabetical bank code, S = sort code (often a specific branch), C = account No.
Calculating and Validating IBAN checksums
The checksum is a basic ISO 7064 mod 97-10 calculation where the remainder must equal 1.
To validate the checksum:
- Check that the total IBAN length is correct as per the country. If not, the IBAN is invalid.
- Move the four initial characters to the end of the string.
- Replace the letters in the string with digits, expanding the string as necessary, such that A=10, B=11 and Z=35.
- Convert the string to an integer and mod-97 the entire number.
If the remainder is 1 you have a valid IBAN number.
To calculate the checksum, make the checksum digits 00 (e.g. GB00 for the UK), move the four initial character to the end of
the string, get the remainder (mod-97) and subtract from 98.
See also
External links
- Official IBAN Registry at
SWIFT
- European Committee for Banking Standards (ECBS)
- ECBS IBAN page
- ECBS IBAN standard v.
3.2
- Free IBAN Validation Service for
all 46 countries that have adopted IBAN in eight languages at United Nations CEFACT TBG5 Finance (html source available)
- Free IBAN
Checker
- A free IBAN calculator and validator (calculator
and decoder for Austrian, Belgian, British, Dutch, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Luxembourgish, Spanish, and Swiss
banks; validator for all countries)
- IBAN used in Switzerland
- Guide on IBAN Account Numbers and
Payments in Europe
- A LGPL program (source available) for IBAN
validation
- SEPA resource including IBAN information and
validation
- IBAN Validator - How to validate
IBAN
- Calculate and check Iban
Numbers for 30 countries - multilingual
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