what is 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 errorshe 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