International bank account number - Wikipedia International bank account number A typical British bank statement header ( from a fictitious bank ), showing the location of the account 's IBAN The International Bank Account Number ( IBAN ) is an internationally agreed system of identifying bank accounts across national borders to facilitate the communication and processing of cross border transactions with a reduced risk of transcription errors. It was originally adopted by the European Committee for Banking Standards ( ECBS ), and later as an international standard under ISO 13616 : 1997. The current standard is ISO 13616 : 2007, which indicates SWIFT as the formal registrar. Initially developed to facilitate payments within the European Union, it has been implemented by most European countries and numerous countries in the other parts of the world, mainly in the Middle East and in the Caribbean. As of February 2016, 69 countries were using the IBAN numbering system. The IBAN consists of up to 34 alphanumeric characters comprising : a country code ; two check digits ; and a number that includes the domestic bank account number, branch identifier, and potential routing information. The check digits enable a sanity check of the bank account number to confirm its integrity before submitting a transaction. Contents 1 Background 2 Structure 2.1 Basic Bank Account Number 2.2 Check digits 3 Processing 3.1 Algorithms 3.1. 1 Validating the IBAN 3.1. 2 Generating IBAN check digits 3.1. 3 Modulo operation on IBAN 3.1. 3.1 Example 4 Adoption 4.1 EEA and territories 4.1. 1 Single Euro Payments Area 4.2 Non-EEA 4.3 IBAN formats by country 5 Criticism 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links Background Before IBAN, differing national standards for bank account identification ( i.e. bank, branch, routing codes, and account number ) were confusing for some users. This often led to necessary routing information being missing from payments. Routing information as specified by ISO 9362 ( also known as Business Identifier Codes ( BIC code ), SWIFT ID or SWIFT code, and SWIFT - BIC ) does not require a specific format for the transaction so the identification of accounts and transaction types is left to agreements of the transaction partners. It also does not contain check digits, so errors of transcription were not detectable and it was not possible for a sending bank to validate the routing information prior to submitting the payment. Routing errors caused delayed payments and incurred extra costs to the sending and receiving banks and often to intermediate routing banks. In 1997, to overcome these difficulties, the International Organization for Standardization ( ISO ) published ISO 13616 : 1997. This proposal had a degree of flexibility, which the European Committee for Banking Standards ( ECBS ) believed would make it unworkable, and they produced a `` slimmed down '' version of the standard which, amongst other things, permitted only upper - case letters and required that the IBAN for each country have a fixed length. ISO 13616 : 1997 was subsequently withdrawn and replaced by ISO 13616 : 2003. The standard was revised again in 2007 when it was split into two parts. ISO 13616 - 1 : 2007 `` specifies the elements of an international bank account number ( IBAN ) used to facilitate the processing of data internationally in data interchange, in financial environments as well as within and between other industries '' but `` does not specify internal procedures, file organization techniques, storage media, languages, etc. to be used in its implementation ''. ISO 13616 - 2 : 2007 describes `` the Registration Authority ( RA ) responsible for the registry of IBAN formats that are compliant with ISO 13616 - 1 ( and ) the procedures for registering ISO 13616 - compliant IBAN formats ''. The official IBAN registrar under ISO 13616 - 2 : 2007 is SWIFT. IBAN imposes a flexible but regular format sufficient for account identification and contains validation information to avoid errors of transcription. It carries all the routing information needed to get a payment from one bank to another wherever it may be ; it contains key bank account details such as country code, branch codes ( known as sort codes in the UK and Ireland ) and account numbers, and it contains check digits which can be validated at source according to a single standard procedure. Where used, IBANs have reduced trans - national money transfer errors to under 0.1 % of total payments. Structure The IBAN consists of up to 34 alphanumeric characters, as follows : country code using ISO 3166 - 1 alpha - 2 -- two letters, check digits -- two digits, and Basic Bank Account Number ( BBAN ) -- up to 30 alphanumeric characters that are country - specific. The check digits enable a sanity check of the bank account number to confirm its integrity before submitting a transaction. The IBAN should not contain spaces when transmitted electronically. When printed it is expressed in groups of four characters separated by a single space, the last group being of variable length as shown in the example below : Country IBAN formatting example Belgium BE05 1234 5678 0101 France FR76 6574 6739 1253 5300 6311 563 Germany DE44 5001 0517 5407 3249 31 Greece GR16 0110 1250 0000 0001 2300 695 Romania RO33 0006 1005 1978 6457 8413 Saudi Arabia SA03 8000 0000 6080 1016 7519 Spain ES91 2100 0418 4502 0005 1332 Switzerland CH93 0076 2011 6238 5295 7 United Kingdom GB29 NWBK 6016 1331 9268 19 Permitted IBAN characters are the digits 0 to 9 and the 26 upper - case Latin alphabetic characters A to Z. This applies even in countries ( e.g., Thailand ) where these characters are not used in the national language. Basic bank account number The Basic Bank Account Number ( BBAN ) format is decided by the national central bank or designated payment authority of each country. There is no consistency between the formats adopted. The national authority may register its BBAN format with SWIFT, but is not obliged to do so. It may adopt IBAN without registration. SWIFT also acts as the registration authority for the SWIFT system, which is used by most countries that have not adopted IBAN. A major difference between the two systems is that under SWIFT there is no requirement that BBANs used within a country be of a pre-defined length. The BBAN must be of a fixed length for the country and comprise case - insensitive alphanumeric characters. It includes the domestic bank account number, branch identifier, and potential routing information. Each country can have a different national routing / account numbering system, up to a maximum of 30 alphanumeric characters. Check digits The check digits enable the sending bank ( or its customer ) to perform a sanity check of the routing destination and account number from a single string of data at the time of data entry. This check is guaranteed to detect any instances where a single character has been omitted, duplicated, mistyped or where two characters have been transposed. Thus routing and account number errors are virtually eliminated. Processing This article or section appears to contradict itself on the range of check digits. This section implies 00 to 96, the section below says 02 to 98... Please see the talk page for more information. ( June 2016 ) One of the design aims of the IBAN was to enable as much validation as possible to be done at the point of data entry. In particular, the computer program that accepts an IBAN will be able to validate : Country code Number of characters in the IBAN correspond to the number specified for the country code BBAN format specified for the country code Account number, bank code and country code combination is compatible with the check digits The check digits are calculated using MOD - 97 - 10 as per ISO / IEC 7064 : 2003 ( abbreviated to mod - 97 in this article ), which specifies a set of check character systems capable of protecting strings against errors which occur when people copy or key data. In particular, the standard states that the following can be detected : All single substitution errors ( the substitution of a single character for another, for example 4234 for 1234 ) All or nearly all single ( local ) transposition errors ( the transposition of two single characters, either adjacent or with one character between them, for example 12354 or 12543 for 12345 ) All or nearly all shift errors ( shifts of the whole string to the left or right ) High proportion of double substitution errors ( two separate single substitution errors in the same string, for example 7234587 for 1234567 ) High proportion of all other errors The underlying rules for IBANs is that the account - servicing financial institution should issue an IBAN, as there are a number of areas where different IBANs could be generated from the same account and branch numbers that would satisfy the generic IBAN validation rules. In particular cases where 00 is a valid check digit, 97 will not be a valid check digit, likewise, if 01 is a valid check digit, 98 will not be a valid check digit, similarly with 02 and 99. The UN CEFACT TBG5 has published a free IBAN validation service in 32 languages for all 57 countries that have adopted the IBAN standard. They have also published the Javascript source code of the verification algorithm. An English language IBAN checker for ECBS member country bank accounts is available on its website. Algorithms Validating the IBAN An IBAN is validated by converting it into an integer and performing a basic mod - 97 operation ( as described in ISO 7064 ) on it. If the IBAN is valid, the remainder equals 1. The algorithm of IBAN validation is as follows : 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 each letter in the string with two digits, thereby expanding the string, where A = 10, B = 11,..., Z = 35 Interpret the string as a decimal integer and compute the remainder of that number on division by 97 If the remainder is 1, the check digit test is passed and the IBAN might be valid. Example ( fictitious United Kingdom bank, sort code 12 - 34 - 56, account number 98765432 ) : IBAN : GB 82 WEST 1234 5698 7654 32 Rearrange : WEST 12345698765432 GB 82 Convert to integer : 32142829 12345698765432 1611 82 Compute remainder : 32142829 12345698765432 1611 82 mod 97 = 1 Generating IBAN check digits According to the ECBS `` generation of the IBAN shall be the exclusive responsibility of the bank / branch servicing the account ''. The ECBS document replicates part of the ISO / IEC 7064 : 2003 standard as a method for generating check digits in the range 02 to 98. Check digits in the ranges 00 to 96, 01 to 97, and 03 to 99 will also provide validation of an IBAN, but the standard is silent as to whether or not these ranges may be used. The preferred algorithm is : Check that the total IBAN length is correct as per the country. If not, the IBAN is invalid. Replace the two check digits by 00 ( e.g., GB00 for the UK ). 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 or a = 10, B or b = 11, and Z or z = 35. Each alphabetic character is therefore replaced by 2 digits Convert the string to an integer ( i.e. ignore leading zeroes ). Calculate mod - 97 of the new number, which results in the remainder. Subtract the remainder from 98, and use the result for the two check digits. If the result is a single digit number, pad it with a leading 0 to make a two - digit number. Modulo operation on IBAN Any computer programming language or software package that is used to compute D mod 97 directly must have the ability to handle integers of more than 30 digits. In practice, this can only be done by software that either supports arbitrary - precision arithmetic or that can handle 220 bit ( unsigned ) integers, features that are often not standard. If the application software in use does not provide the ability to handle integers of this size, the modulo operation can be performed in a piece-wise manner ( as is the case with the UN CEFACT TBG5 Javascript program ). Piece-wise calculation D mod 97 can be done in many ways. One such way is as follows : Starting from the leftmost digit of D, construct a number using the first 9 digits and call it N. Calculate N mod 97. Construct a new 9 - digit N by concatenating above result ( step 2 ) with the next 7 digits of D. If there are fewer than 7 digits remaining in D but at least one, then construct a new N, which will have less than 9 digits, from the above result ( step 2 ) followed by the remaining digits of D Repeat steps 2 -- 3 until all the digits of D have been processed The result of the final calculation in step 2 will be D mod 97 = N mod 97. Example In this example, the above algorithm for D mod 97 will be applied to D = 321428291 2345698 7654321 61182. ( The digits are colour - coded to aid the description below. ) If the result is one, the IBAN corresponding to D passes the check digit test. Construct N from the first 9 digits of D N = 321428291 Calculate N mod 97 = 70 Construct a new 9 - digit N from the above result ( step 2 ) followed by the next 7 digits of D. N = 70 2345698 Calculate N mod 97 = 29 Construct a new 9 - digit N from the above result ( step 4 ) followed by the next 7 digits of D. N = 29 7654321 Calculate N mod 97 = 24 Construct a new N from the above result ( step 6 ) followed by the remaining 5 digits of D. N = 24 61182 Calculate N mod 97 = 1 From step 8, the final result is D mod 97 = 1 and the IBAN has passed this check digit test. Adoption Adoption of the IBAN ( as of January 1, 2014 ) IBAN structure is defined IBAN structure is registered with SWIFT Country participates in SEPA Euro is country 's currency International bank transactions use either an IBAN or the ISO 9362 Business Identifier Code system ( BIC or SWIFT code ) in conjunction with the BBAN ( Basic Bank Account Number ). Eea and Territories The banks of most countries in Europe publish account numbers using both the IBAN format and the nationally recognised identifiers, this being mandatory within the European Economic Area. Day - to - day administration of banking in British Overseas Territories varies from territory to territory -- some, such as South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, have too small a population to warrant a banking system while others, such as Bermuda, have a thriving financial sector. The use of the IBAN is up to the local government -- Gibraltar, being part of the European Union is required to use the IBAN, as are the Crown dependencies, which use the British clearing system and the British Virgin Islands have chosen to do so. As of April 2013, no other British Overseas Territories have chosen to use the IBAN. Banks in the Caribbean Netherlands also do not use the IBAN. As of February 2014, the IBAN is mandatory for all banking transactions in countries that use the euro. Single euro payments Area Main article : Single Euro Payments Area The IBAN designation scheme was chosen as the foundation for electronic straight - through processing in the European Economic Area. The European Parliament mandated that a bank charge needs to be the same amount for domestic credit transfers as for cross-border credit transfers regulated in decision 2560 / 2001 ( updated in 924 / 2009 ). This regulation took effect in 2003. Only payments in euro up to € 12,500 to a bank account designated by its IBAN were covered by the regulation. The Euro Payments regulation has been the foundation for the decision to create a Single Euro Payments Area ( SEPA ). The European Central Bank has created the TARGET2 interbank network that unifies the technical infrastructure of the 26 central banks of the European Union ( although Sweden and the UK have opted out ). SEPA is a self - regulatory initiative by the banking sector of Europe as represented in the European Payments Council ( EPC ). The European Union made the scheme mandatory through the Payment Services Directive published in 2007. Since January 2008, all countries must support SEPA credit transfer, and SEPA direct debit must be supported since November 2009. The regulation on SEPA payments increases the charge cap ( same price for domestic payments as for cross-border payments ) to € 50,000. With a further decision of the European Parliament, the IBAN scheme for bank accounts fully replaced the domestic numbering schemes from 31 December 2012. On 16 December 2010, the European Commission published proposed regulations that will make IBAN support mandatory for domestic credit transfer by 2013 and for domestic direct debit by 2014 ( with a 12 and 24 months transition period respectively ). Some countries have already replaced their traditional bank account scheme by IBAN. This includes Switzerland where IBAN was introduced for national credit transfer on 1 January 2006 and the support for the old bank account numbers has not been required from 1 January 2010. Based on a 20 December 2011 memorandum, the EU parliament resolved the mandatory dates for the adoption of the IBAN on 14 February 2012. From 1 February 2014, all national systems for credit transfer and direct debit must be abolished and replaced by an IBAN - based system. This will be extended to all cross-border SEPA transactions from 1 February 2016 ( Article 5 Section 7 ). After these dates the IBAN will be sufficient to identify an account for home and foreign financial transactions in SEPA countries and banks will no longer be permitted to require that the customer supply the BIC for the beneficiary 's bank. In the run - up to the 1 February 2014 deadline, it became apparent that many old bank account numbers had not been allocated IBANs -- an issue that has to be addressed on a country - by - country basis. In Germany, for example, the German Federal Bank and the German Banking Industry Committee require that all holders of German bank codes ( `` Bankleitzahl '' ) publish the specifics of their IBAN generation format taking into account not only the generation of check digits but also the handling of legacy bank codes, thereby enabling third parties to generate IBANs independently of the bank. The first such catalogue was published in June 2013 as a variant of the old bank code catalog ( `` Bankleitzahlendatei '' ). Non-eea Banks in numerous non-European countries including most states of the Middle East, North Africa and the Caribbean have implemented the IBAN format for account identification. In some countries the IBAN is used on an ad hoc basis, an example being Ukraine where account numbers used for international transfers of four of the national banks have additional aliases that follow the IBAN format as a precursor to formal SWIFT registration. The degree to which bank verifies the validity of a recipient 's bank account number depends of the configuration of the transmitting bank 's software -- many major software packages supply bank account validation as a standard function. Some banks outside Europe may not recognize IBAN, though this is expected to diminish with time. Non-European banks usually accept IBANs for accounts in Europe, although they might not treat IBANs differently from other foreign bank account numbers. In particular, they might not check the IBAN 's validity prior to sending the transfer. Banks in the United States do not use IBAN as account numbers for U.S. accounts. 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 : a working group ( WGAB20 ) was established as an X9 subcommittee to generate an IBAN construction for U.S. bank accounts. Canadian financial institutions have not adopted IBAN and use routing numbers issued by Payments Canada for domestic transfers, and SWIFT for international transfers. There is no formal governmental or private sector regulatory requirement in Canada for the major banks to use IBAN. Australia and New Zealand do not use IBAN. They use Bank State Branch codes for domestic transfers and SWIFT for international transfers. IBAN formats by country This table summarises the IBAN formats by country : The kk after the two - character ISO country code represents the check digits calculated from the rest of the IBAN characters. If it is a constant for the country concerned, this will be stated in the Comments column. This happens where the BBAN has its own check digits that use the same algorithm as the IBAN check digits The BBAN format column shows the format of the BBAN part of an IBAN in terms of upper case alpha characters ( A -- Z ) denoted by `` a '', numeric characters ( 0 -- 9 ) denoted by `` n '' and mixed case alphanumeric characters ( a -- z, A -- Z, 0 -- 9 ) denoted by `` c ''. For example, the Bulgarian BBAN ( 4a, 6n, 8c ) consists of 4 alpha characters, followed by 6 numeric characters, then by 8 mixed - case alpha - numeric characters Descriptions in the Comments field have been standardised with country specific names in brackets. The format of the various fields can be deduced from the BBAN field Countries that are planning to introduce the IBAN are shown in italics with the planned date of introduction in bold Country Chars BBAN Format IBAN Fields Albania 28 8n, 16c ALkk bbbs sssx cccc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code s = Branch code x = National check digit c = Account number Andorra 24 8n, 12c ADkk bbbb ssss cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code s = Branch code c = Account number Austria 20 16n ATkk bbbb bccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number Azerbaijan 28 4c, 20n AZkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number Bahrain 22 4a, 14c BHkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc cc b = National bank code c = Account number Belarus July 4, 2017 28 4c, 20n BYkk bbbb aaaa cccc cccc cccc cccc b - National bank or branch code a - Balance account number c - Account number Belgium 16 12n BEkk bbbc cccc ccxx b = National bank code c = Account number x = National check digits Bosnia and Herzegovina 20 16n BAkk bbbs sscc cccc ccxx k = IBAN check digits ( always 39 ) b = National bank code s = Branch code c = Account number x = National check digits Brazil 29 23n, 1a, 1c BRkk bbbb bbbb ssss sccc cccc ccct n k = IBAN check digits ( Calculated by MOD 97 - 10 ) b = National bank code s = Branch code c = Account number t = Account type ( Cheque account, Savings account etc. ) n = Owner account number ( `` 1 '', `` 2 '' etc. ) Bulgaria 22 4a, 6n, 8c BGkk bbbb ssss ttcc cccc cc b = BIC bank code s = Branch ( BAE ) number t = Account type c = Account number Costa Rica 22 18n CRkk 0bbb cccc cccc cccc cc 0 = always zero b = bank code c = Account number Croatia 21 17n HRkk bbbb bbbc cccc cccc c b = Bank code c = Account number Cyprus 28 8n, 16c CYkk bbbs ssss cccc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code s = Branch code c = Account number Czech Republic 24 20n CZkk bbbb ssss sscc cccc cccc b = National bank code s = Account number prefix c = Account number Denmark 18 14n DKkk bbbb cccc cccc cc b = National bank code c = Account number Dominican Republic 28 4a, 20n DOkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc cccc cccc b = Bank identifier c = Account number East Timor 23 19n TLkk bbbc cccc cccc cccc cxx k = IBAN check digits ( always = `` 38 '' ) b = Bank identifier c = Account number x = National check digit Estonia 20 16n EEkk bbss cccc cccc cccx b = National bank code s = Branch code c = Account number x = National check digit Faroe Islands 18 14n FOkk bbbb cccc cccc cx b = National bank code c = Account number x = National check digit Finland 18 14n FIkk bbbb bbcc cccc cx b = Bank and branch code c = Account number x = National check digit France 27 10n, 11c, 2n FRkk bbbb bsss sscc cccc cccc cxx b = National bank code s = Branch code ( fr : code guichet ) c = Account number x = National check digits ( fr : clé RIB ) Georgia 22 2c, 16n GEkk bbcc cccc cccc cccc cc b = National bank code c = Account number Germany 22 18n DEkk bbbb bbbb cccc cccc cc b = Bank and branch identifier ( de : Bankleitzahl or BLZ ) c = Account number Gibraltar 23 4a, 15c GIkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc ccc b = BIC bank code c = Account number Greece 27 7n, 16c GRkk bbbs sssc cccc cccc cccc ccc b = National bank code s = Branch code c = Account number Greenland 18 14n GLkk bbbb cccc cccc cc b = National bank code c = Account number Guatemala 28 4c, 20c GTkk bbbb mmtt cccc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number m = Currency t = Account type Hungary 28 24n HUkk bbbs sssx cccc cccc cccc cccx b = National bank code s = Branch code c = Account number x = National check digit Iceland 26 22n ISkk bbbb sscc cccc iiii iiii ii b = National bank code s = Branch code c = Account number i = holder 's kennitala ( national identification number ). Ireland 22 4c, 14n IEkk aaaa bbbb bbcc cccc cc a = BIC bank code b = Bank / branch code ( sort code ) c = Account number Israel 23 19n ILkk bbbn nncc cccc cccc ccc b = National bank code n = Branch number c = Account number 13 digits ( padded with zeros ) Italy 27 1a, 10n, 12c ITkk xbbb bbss sssc cccc cccc ccc x = Check char ( CIN ) b = National bank code ( Associazione Bancaria Italiana or Codice ABI ) s = Branch code ( it : Coordinate bancarie or CAB -- Codice d'Avviamento Bancario ) c = Account number Jordan 30 4a, 22n JOkk bbbb ssss cccc cccc cccc cccc cc b = National bank code s = Branch code c = Account number Kazakhstan 20 3n, 13c KZkk bbbc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number Kosovo 20 4n, 10n, 2n XKkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number Kuwait 30 4a, 22c KWkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc cccc cccc cc b = National bank code c = Account number. Latvia 21 4a, 13c LVkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc c b = BIC Bank code c = Account number Lebanon 28 4n, 20c LBkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number Liechtenstein 21 5n, 12c LIkk bbbb bccc cccc cccc c b = National bank code c = Account number Lithuania 20 16n LTkk bbbb bccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number Luxembourg 20 3n, 13c LUkk bbbc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number Macedonia 19 3n, 10c, 2n MKkk bbbc cccc cccc cxx k = IBAN check digits ( always = `` 07 '' ) b = National bank code c = Account number x = National check digits Malta 31 4a, 5n, 18c MTkk bbbb ssss sccc cccc cccc cccc ccc b = BIC bank code s = Branch code c = Account number Mauritania 27 23n MRkk bbbb bsss sscc cccc cccc cxx k = IBAN check digits ( always 13 ) b = National bank code s = Branch code ( fr : code guichet ) c = Account number x = National check digits ( fr : clé RIB ) Mauritius 30 4a, 19n, 3a MUkk bbbb bbss cccc cccc cccc 000m mm b = National bank code s = Branch identifier c = Account number 0 = Zeroes m = Currency Symbol Monaco 27 10n, 11c, 2n MCkk bbbb bsss sscc cccc cccc cxx b = National bank code s = Branch code ( fr : code guichet ) c = Account number x = National check digits ( fr : clé RIB ). Moldova 24 2c, 18c MDkk bbcc cccc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number Montenegro 22 18n MEkk bbbc cccc cccc cccc xx k = IBAN check digits ( always = `` 25 '' ) b = Bank code c = Account number x = National check digits Netherlands 18 4a, 10n NLkk bbbb cccc cccc cc b = BIC Bank code c = Account number Norway 15 11n NOkk bbbb cccc ccx b = National bank code c = Account number x = Modulo - 11 national check digit Pakistan 24 4c, 16n PKkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number Palestinian territories 29 4c, 21n PSkk bbbb xxxx xxxx xccc cccc cccc c b = National bank code c = Account number x = Not specified Poland 28 24n PLkk bbbs sssx cccc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code s = Branch code x = National check digit c = Account number, Portugal 25 21n PTkk bbbb ssss cccc cccc cccx x k = IBAN check digits ( always = `` 50 '' ) b = National bank code ( numeric only ) s = Branch code ( numeric only ) c = Account number ( numeric only ) x = National check digits ( numeric only ) Qatar 29 4a, 21c QAkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc cccc cccc c b = National bank code c = Account number Romania 24 4a, 16c ROkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc cccc b = BIC Bank code ( first four alpha characters ) c = Branch code and account number ( bank - specific format ) San Marino 27 1a, 10n, 12c SMkk xbbb bbss sssc cccc cccc ccc x = Check char ( it : CIN ) b = National bank code ( it : Associazione bancaria italiana or Codice ABI ) s = Branch code ( it : Coordinate bancarie or CAB -- Codice d'Avviamento Bancario ) c = Account number Saudi Arabia 24 2n, 18c SAkk bbcc cccc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number preceded by zeros, if required Serbia 22 18n RSkk bbbc cccc cccc cccc xx b = National bank code ( always = `` 35 '' ) c = Account number x = Account check digits Slovakia 24 20n SKkk bbbb ssss sscc cccc cccc b = National bank code s = Account number prefix c = Account number Slovenia 19 15n SIkk bbss sccc cccc cxx k = IBAN check digits ( always = `` 56 '' ) b = National bank code s = Branch code c = Account number x = National check digits Spain 24 20n ESkk bbbb ssss xxcc cccc cccc b = National bank code s = Branch code x = Check digits c = Account number Sweden 24 20n SEkk bbbc cccc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number Switzerland 21 5n, 12c CHkk bbbb bccc cccc cccc c b = National bank code c = Account number Tunisia 24 20n TNkk bbss sccc cccc cccc cccc k = IBAN check digits ( always 59 ) b = National bank code s = Branch code c = Account number Turkey 26 5n, 17c TRkk bbbb bxcc cccc cccc cccc cc b = National bank code x = Reserved for future use ( currently `` 0 '' ) c = Account number United Arab Emirates 23 3n, 16n AEkk bbbc cccc cccc cccc ccc b = National bank code c = Account number United Kingdom 22 4a, 14n GBkk bbbb ssss sscc cccc cc b = BIC bank code s = Bank and branch code ( sort code ) c = Account number Virgin Islands, British 24 4c, 16n VGkk bbbb cccc cccc cccc cccc b = National bank code c = Account number In addition to the above list, Nordea has catalogued IBANs for countries listed below. In this list `` kk '' represent the IBAN checksum `` a '' represents an alphabetic character `` n '' represents a numeric character `` b '' represents a bank code character `` c '' represents an account digit. `` 0 '' represents a `` 0 '' character. Country Chars Example Comments Algeria 24 DZkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn Angola 25 AOkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn n Benin 28 BJkk annn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn Burkina Faso 28 BFkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn Burundi 16 BIkk nnnn nnnn nnnn Cameroon 27 CMkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnn Cape Verde 25 CVkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn n Iran 26 IRkk 0bb0 nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nn Ivory Coast 28 CIkk annn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn Madagascar 27 MGkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnn this format is identical to the French format Mali 28 MLkk annn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn Mozambique 25 MZkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn n Senegal 28 SNkk annn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn Ukraine 29 UAkk bbbb bbcc cccc cccc cccc cccc c Addition list of countries, in the process of introducing the IBAN retrieved from SWIFT partner website are listed below. In this list `` kk '' represent the IBAN checksum `` a '' represents an alphabetic character `` n '' represents a numeric character Country Chars Example Comoros 27 KMkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnn Chad 27 TDkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnn Congo 27 CGkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnn Egypt 27 EGkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnn Gabon 27 GAkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnn Honduras 28 HNkk aaaa nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn Morocco 28 MAkk nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn Nicaragua 32 NIkk aaaa nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn Niger 28 NEkk aann nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn Togo 28 TGkk aann nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn nnnn Criticism There is criticism about the length and readability of IBAN. Printed on paper the IBAN is often difficult to read. Therefore, it is popular to group the IBAN with four symbols. However, for electronic documents ( e.g. PDF invoice ) the copy and paste of grouped IBAN can result in errors with online banking forms. Only a few user friendly bank institutes allow and detect the copy and paste of both grouped and ungrouped IBAN. See also Bank card number Bank regulation ABA routing transit number Routing number ( Canada ) Notes Jump up ^ In equations, the remainder of A divided by B is denoted A mod B or A ( mod B ), e.g., 2 = 14 mod 12. See Remainders. Jump up ^ The maximum length of D in ( decimal ) digits for the fully generic IBAN with 34 alphanumeric digits ( two of which, the check digits, can, however, only be numeric ) is ( 34 − 2 ) × 2 + 2 × 1 = 66. 2 is equal to 1.7 × 10, from which it can be inferred that 220 bit unsigned integers can accommodate all unsigned integers of 66 digits. Jump up ^ 2 is approximately equal to 2.1 × 10, making it possible for any 9 - digit integer to be handled using 32 bit integer arithmetic ^ Jump up to : Registered at SWIFT as part of Denmark, but with its own country code. Jump up ^ French Guyana, French Polynesia, French Southern Territories, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, New Caledonia, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin ( French part ), Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Wallis and Futuna Islands have their own ISO country code but use `` FR '' as their IBAN country code. Jump up ^ Not applicable to Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and the Caribbean Netherlands. Jump up ^ The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey use this format. British Overseas Territories have their own formats -- only Gibraltar and the British Virgin Islands use IBANs. References ^ Jump up to : `` IBAN registry -- This registry provides detailed information about all ISO 13616 - compliant national IBAN formats -- Release 63 '' ( PDF ). SWIFT. February 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016. Jump up ^ `` Handbook for the Standardisation and Application of Basic Bank Account Number ( BBAN ) and International Bank Account Number ( IBAN ) in Cyprus '' ( PDF ). Central Bank of Cyprus. September 2003. Introduction. Retrieved 7 August 2012. ^ Jump up to : `` Banking and related financial services -- International Bank Account Number ( IBAN ) ''. International Organisation for Standardisation. 24 July 2003. Retrieved 11 August 2012. ^ Jump up to : `` IBAN Standard Implementation Guidelines -- SIG203 V4 '' ( PDF ). European Committee for Banking Standards. December 2000. 9.3 Ordering customer. Retrieved 8 August 2012. IBANs make validation possible for telebanking, FEDI Jump up ^ `` ISO 13616 - 1 : 2007 Financial services -- International bank account number ( IBAN ) -- Part 1 : Structure of the IBAN ''. International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 31 January 2010. Jump up ^ `` ISO 13616 - 2 : 2007 Financial services -- International bank account number ( IBAN ) -- Part 2 : Role and responsibilities of the Registration Authority ''. International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 31 January 2010. Jump up ^ `` ISO13616 IBAN Registry ''. SWIFT. Retrieved 18 January 2010. ^ Jump up to : `` IBAN : International Bank Account Number '' ( PDF ). EBS204 V3. 2. European Committee for Banking Standards. August 2003. Retrieved 1 August 2010. ^ Jump up to : `` ISO / IEC 7064 : 2003 -- Information technology -- Security techniques -- Check character systems ''. International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 31 January 2010. Jump up ^ `` Handbook for the Standardisation and Application of Basic Bank Account Number ( BBAN ) and International Bank Account Number ( IBAN ) in Cyprus '' ( PDF ). Central Bank of Cyprus. September 2003. Section 4 -- Advantages. Retrieved 7 August 2012. Reduction of human errors Jump up ^ `` International Bank Account Number ( IBAN ) -- IBAN online check ''. UN / CEFACT United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012. Jump up ^ `` International Bank Account Number ( IBAN ) -- Basic information ''. UN / CEFACT United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012. Jump up ^ `` Iban Checker ''. European Banking Resources. ecbs.org. 22 September 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2012. Jump up ^ `` Standard 48 -- Format of the IBAN issued in the UK ( International Bank Account Number ) '' ( PDF ). UK Payments Administration. June 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2012. ^ Jump up to : `` REGULATION ( EC ) No 924 / 2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 September 2009 on cross-border payments in the Community and repealing Regulation ( EC ) No 2560 / 2001 ''. EUR - Lex. Retrieved 2 September 2016. Jump up ^ `` Bermuda Monetary Authority : Home Page ''. 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013. Jump up ^ `` World Payments Guide ''. PacNet Services Ltd. 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2013. Jump up ^ `` Frist für Umstieg auf SEPA - Produkte : Dt Widerstand programmiert '' ( Deadline for migration to SEPA products : Dt programmed resistance ) ( in German ). Dow Jones Deutschland. 14 December 2010. Archived from the original on 17 December 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010. Jump up ^ `` Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing technical requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euros and amending Regulation ( EC ) No 924 / 2009 ''. the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union. 16 December 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2011. Jump up ^ `` IBAN - Nummer : Noch kein Obligatorium '' ( IBAN Number : Not mandatory ) ( in German ). 29 November 2009. Retrieved 18 December 2010. Jump up ^ `` Commissioner Michel Barnier welcomes agreement by Council and Parliament establishing SEPA migration end - dates '' ( Press release ). European Commission. 20 December 2010. MEMO / 11 / 935. ^ Jump up to : `` European Parliament legislative resolution of 14 February 2012 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing technical requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euros and amending Regulation ( EC ) No 924 / 2009 ''. European Parliament. 14 February 2012. P7_TA - PROV ( 2012 ) 0037. Jump up ^ `` Rundschreiben Nr. 73 / 2012 Abkommen über IBAN - Regeln '' ( Circular no 70 / 2012 Agreement regarding IBAN rules ) ( PDF ) ( in German ). Deutsche Bundesbank. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` IBAN - Regeln -- Bankleitzahlendatei '' ( IBAN Rules -- Bank ( sort ) codes ) ( in German ). Deutsche Bundesbank. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013. Jump up ^ Засідання Комітету з питань банківської інфраструктури та платіжних систем ( News : Committee Meeting banking infrastructure and payment systems ) ( in Ukrainian ). 28 March 2013. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013. Jump up ^ `` Bank Account Validation ''. SAP work portal. SAP. Retrieved 23 May 2013. Jump up ^ `` Avoiding the Pitfalls of IBAN Payments ''. Reed Business Information Limited. 2013. pp. 1 -- 4. Retrieved 23 May 2013. Jump up ^ `` Understanding SWIFT and IBAN : Essential Details When Making A Money Transfer ''. Currency Solutions. 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013. Jump up ^ `` X9 Board, Subcommittees and Working Groups : WGAB20 -- ( IBAN ) International Bank Account Number ''. Accredited Standards Committee X9. Retrieved 14 October 2017. Jump up ^ `` IBAN SWIFT Codes ''. Switzerland Buying Guide. 2013. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2013. Jump up ^ `` Переход на IBAN и BIC ''. Национальный банк Республики Беларусь. Jump up ^ `` IBAN Implementation Guidelines for Brazil - Circular 3.625 '' ( PDF ). Banco Central do Brasil. 14 February 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013. Jump up ^ `` Convertidor Cuentas Estandarizadas '' ( Standardized Account Converter ) ( in Spanish ). Banco de Guatemala. Jump up ^ `` FAQ on the International Bank Account Number ( IBAN ) '' ( PDF ). Citibank. Jump up ^ `` IBAN Registry ( Qatar - Page 63 ) '' ( PDF ). SWIFT. November 2013. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013. Jump up ^ `` IBAN countries ''. Nordea. 2016. Retrieved 12 Jan 2016. Jump up ^ `` Experimental IBAN Countries ''. IBAN.com. 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2017. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to IBAN. Official ISO 13616 Registry Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication ( SWIFT ) ISO 13616 - 1 : 2007 International Organization for Standardization ( ISO ) IBAN Implementation Guidelines State Bank of Pakistan, 15 May 2012 Handbook of the Standardization and Application of BBAN and IBAN in Cyprus Central Bank of Cyprus Check digits ( or characters ) are a ' checksum ' on a number to help prevent manual typing errors. in PHP Check digits ( or characters ) are a ' checksum ' on a number to help prevent manual typing errors. in PHP International numbering standards Standards ISO 2108 : International Standard Book Number ( ISBN ) ISO 3297 : International Standard Serial Number ( ISSN ) ISO 3901 : International Standard Recording Code ( ISRC ) ISO 6166 : International Securities Identification Number ( ISIN ) ISO / IEC 7812 : Issuer identification number ( IIN ) ISO 10957 : International Standard Music Number ( ISMN ) ISO 13616 : International Bank Account Number ( IBAN ) ISO 15511 : International Standard Identifier for Libraries... ( ISIL ) ISO 15706 : International Standard Audiovisual Number ( ISAN ) ISO 15707 : International Standard Musical Work Code ( ISWC ) ISO 17316 : International Standard Link Identifier ( ISLI ) ISO 17442 : Legal Entity Identifier ( LEI ) ISO 21047 : International Standard Text Code ( ISTC ) ISO 26324 : Digital Object Identifier System ( DOI ) ISO 27729 : International Standard Name Identifier ( ISNI ) CAE / IPI Virtual International Authority File ( VIAF ) ISO standards by standard number List of ISO standards / ISO romanizations / IEC standards 1 -- 9999 5 6 7 9 16 31 - 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 128 216 217 226 228 233 259 269 302 306 428 518 519 639 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 6 646 690 732 764 843 898 965 1000 1004 1007 1073 - 1 1413 1538 1745 2014 2015 2022 2047 2108 2145 2146 2240 2281 2709 2711 2788 2848 2852 3029 3103 3166 - 1 - 2 - 3 3297 3307 3602 3864 3901 3977 4031 4157 4217 4909 5218 5428 5775 5776 5800 5964 6166 6344 6346 6385 6425 6429 6438 6523 6709 7001 7002 7098 7185 7200 7498 7736 7810 7811 7812 7813 7816 8000 8178 8217 8571 8583 8601 8632 8652 8691 8807 8820 - 5 8859 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 8 - I - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 8879 9000 / 9001 9075 9126 9293 9241 9362 9407 9506 9529 9564 9594 9660 9897 9899 9945 9984 9985 9995 10000 -- 19999 10005 10006 10007 10116 10118 - 3 10160 10161 10165 10179 10206 10218 10303 - 11 - 21 - 22 - 28 - 238 10383 10487 10585 10589 10646 10664 10746 10861 10957 10962 10967 11073 11170 11179 11404 11544 11783 11784 11785 11801 11898 11940 ( - 2 ) 11941 11941 ( TR ) 11992 12006 12182 12207 12234 - 2 13211 - 1 - 2 13216 13250 13399 13406 - 2 13450 13485 13490 13567 13568 13584 13616 14000 14031 14224 14289 14396 14443 14496 - 2 - 3 - 6 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 14 - 17 - 20 14644 14649 14651 14698 14750 14764 14882 14971 15022 15189 15288 15291 15292 15398 15408 15444 - 3 15445 15438 15504 15511 15686 15693 15706 - 2 15707 15897 15919 15924 15926 15926 WIP 15930 16023 16262 16612 - 2 16750 16949 ( TS ) 17024 17025 17100 17203 17369 17442 17799 18000 18004 18014 18245 18629 18916 19005 19011 19092 ( - 1 - 2 ) 19114 19115 19125 19136 19439 19500 19501 19502 19503 19505 19506 19507 19508 19509 19510 19600 19752 19757 19770 19775 - 1 19794 - 5 19831 20000 + 20000 20022 20121 20400 21000 21047 21500 21827 : 2002 22000 23270 23271 23360 24517 24613 24617 24707 25178 25964 26000 26300 26324 27000 series 27000 27001 27002 27006 27729 28000 29110 29148 29199 - 2 29500 30170 31000 32000 38500 40500 42010 55000 80000 - 1 - 2 - 3 Bank codes and identification North America Routing number ( Canada ) ABA routing transit number ( United States ) CLABE ( Mexico ) Europe Bank clearing number ( Switzerland and Liechtenstein ) Bankleitzahl ( Germany and Austria ) Sort code ( United Kingdom and Ireland ) Oceania New Zealand bank account number ( New Zealand ) Bank state branch ( Australia ) International International Bank Account Number ISO 9362 Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication ( SWIFT ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=International_Bank_Account_Number&oldid=836051929 '' Categories : Banking terms Financial regulation ISO standards Bank codes Checksum algorithms Hidden categories : CS1 German - language sources ( de ) CS1 uses Ukrainian - language script ( uk ) CS1 Ukrainian - language sources ( uk ) CS1 Spanish - language sources ( es ) Self - contradictory articles from June 2016 All self - contradictory articles Wikipedia articles in need of updating from October 2016 All Wikipedia articles in need of updating Articles containing potentially dated statements from April 2013 All articles containing potentially dated statements All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January 2016 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Azərbaycanca Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ Български Català Čeština Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto فارسی Français Hrvatski Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית ಕನ್ನಡ Қазақша Latviešu Lietuvių Magyar မြန်မာဘာသာ Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Shqip Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska Tarandíne Türkçe Українська اردو Yorùbá 中文 35 more Edit links This page was last edited on 12 April 2018, at 11 : 52. 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Question: which part of an iban is the account number
Answer: The Basic Bank Account Number (BBAN)