IBAN vs SWIFT/BIC

Published October 23, 2026

The IBAN identifies one bank account. The BIC, often called the SWIFT code, identifies a bank. A payment form that asks for both wants the address of the account and the address of the bank holding it. Inside the EU, a euro transfer needs only the IBAN. Outside it, the BIC is still common. Here is what each code contains and when you need it.

One sentence each

IBAN: the full, international number of one account, from 15 to 33 characters, starting with a country code and two check digits. Example: GB29 NWBK 6016 1331 9268 19.

BIC: the Business Identifier Code of a bank, 8 or 11 characters, made only of letters and digits. Example: COBADEFFXXX. In everyday use "SWIFT code", "SWIFT/BIC" and "BIC" mean the same thing.

If the IBAN is the house number and street, the BIC is the post office that delivers to it. An IBAN always belongs to exactly one account. A BIC is shared by every account at that bank or branch.

Side by side

How a BIC is built

A BIC has four parts. Take COBADEFFXXX, the BIC that the Bundesbank bank code file gives for the bank code 37040044 (Commerzbank, Köln). That bank code is inside the German registry example DE89 3704 0044 0532 0130 00.

The short form has only the first eight characters, COBADEFF. The long form adds the branch code. Payment forms accept both. If a form insists on 11 characters and you only have 8, ask your bank which version to use rather than guessing.

The BIC holds no check digits. A typing error in it is not caught by arithmetic, unlike one in the IBAN.

Where the two codes meet

In some countries the IBAN contains the first four letters of the BIC. The UK is the clearest case. In GB29 NWBK 6016 1331 9268 19, the letters NWBK are the bank code, and they are the start of the bank’s BIC. The Netherlands works the same way: ABNA for ABN AMRO, INGB for ING, RABO for Rabobank. If you know the BIC, you know those four letters. Our guide to sort code and account number to IBAN uses this to build a UK IBAN.

Germany uses digits instead. A German IBAN carries the 8-digit Bankleitzahl, and the Bundesbank publishes which BIC belongs to which Bankleitzahl. That is why our IBAN checker can show the bank name and BIC for any German IBAN, and why you can search the list on the bank code page (German). For other countries we do not look up bank names or BICs: we have not loaded an official list for them, and we will not guess.

Most countries put a numeric bank code in the IBAN. The IBAN formats by country page shows, for each of the 89 countries, where the bank code sits.

When you no longer need the BIC

Regulation (EU) 260/2012, Art. 5, ended the BIC requirement for euro transfers and direct debits inside the EU. For domestic payments it ended on 1 February 2014. For payments between EU countries it ended on 1 February 2016. Since then a bank in the EU may not make you supply a BIC for a euro payment to another EU account. The IBAN is enough. The bank finds the BIC itself.

The same regulation, Art. 9, stops payers and payees from demanding an account in a particular EU country. A German employer may pay salary into a Spanish account; a French utility must accept an Italian IBAN for a direct debit.

When banks still ask for it

The EU rule covers euro payments inside the EU. Outside that, the BIC is still part of most international transfers. Expect to be asked for it in these cases:

• The payment is not in euro. A transfer in pounds, dollars or francs runs outside the EU euro rules.
• One side is outside the EU. The SWIFT IBAN Registry lists 37 countries as SEPA members, among them the UK and Switzerland, but the EU regulation binds banks in the EU. A bank sending to or from such a country may still ask for the BIC.
• The country has no IBAN. The United States, for example, is not in the IBAN Registry. A US account is a routing number and an account number, and the sending bank abroad will want the SWIFT/BIC code.
• The form simply has a BIC field. Some forms ask anyway. Inside the EU, for a euro payment, you may leave it empty or ask the bank to fill it in.

Where to find a BIC

Your own BIC is on your statement and in your online banking, usually printed next to the IBAN. For someone else’s account, ask the person you are paying. They will find it in the same places. Avoid copying a BIC from a random search result: a bank can have several BICs for different branches or departments, and only the account holder’s bank documents show which one goes with the account.

For a UK account, the first four letters of the BIC are also the bank code you need to build the IBAN. If you have the sort code and account number but not the IBAN, the IBAN calculator asks for those four letters and does the rest. The UK IBAN page shows the layout.

Which mistakes each code lets through

A wrong IBAN is usually caught. The check digits detect any single wrong digit and any swap of two neighbouring digits, and the length and structure catch a missing character. Our guide to what an IBAN is shows the parts that are tested.

A wrong BIC is not caught by arithmetic. A BIC with a typo can still look like a real one. So copy it from the account holder’s documents, never retype it from memory. Inside the EU, for euro payments, the IBAN is now the only code that counts, and it is the one that can be tested.