IBAN (International Bank Account Number)

What is IBAN?

The International Bank Account Number is a series of alphanumerical characters that identify a determined account in a financial institution anywhere in the world. That is each account has its own IBAN and the country, the entity, the office and the account is identified via this IBAN. It is a standard (EBS204) of the European Committee of Banking Standards (www.ecbs.org), which at the same time complies with standard ISO 13616.

What is the use of IBAN?

The object of IBAN is to facilitate the automatic treatment of payments and foreign transfers. This standard insures the correct transfer of data and reduces the possibility of manual intervention. As such, this contributes to the avoidance of the cost and delay associated with the transfer of incorrect or insufficient of date concerning the bank accounts.

How does IBAN work?

IBAN has a maximum of 34 characters alphanumerical. The first two are alphabetical in nature and identify the country. The next two are control digits and are the validating element of the whole of IBAN. Those remaining refer to the account, which in the majority of cases also identify the entity and the office. In relation to Spain the first four are followed by the present 20 numerical characters.

The exact format of an IBAN is the following: PP XX 000000000

Where:

• PP are the two letters that represent the country (GB, FR, IT...)
• XX are two numbers that correspond to the check digit of the country and the account 
• 000000000 are the alphanumerical digits corresponding to the account in the country and do not have a fixed size format.

Depending on the country.

What is the BIC and what is its structure?

It is the identification code of the bank receiving the amount. The BIC is structured as follows:  AAAABBCCDDD, where

• AAAA  is the code for the bank (letters)
• BB  is the code for the country (letters)
• CC  is the code for the geographical zone (letters and/or figures)
• DDD is the branch code