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Check an IBAN (International Bank Account Number)

An International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is an internationally agreed standard (ISO 13616) to facilitate the automatic processing of cross-border credit transfers. Since 1 January 2007 the IBAN of the beneficiary and the SWIFT BIC of the beneficiary bank are mandatory in payments to a bank account in the European Union (EU).

If you are paying funds to a counterparty in one of the EU countries, it is their responsibility to advise you their IBAN and the SWIFT BIC of their bank. These details should be quoted on letterheads and invoices from your counterparty, if not you will need to obtain these details from them prior to making a payment.

An IBAN is a series of alphanumeric characters (maximum of 34) that uniquely identifies an account held at a bank anywhere in the world. It contains an ISO country code, two check digits and the basic bank account number of the account. The banking industry in each country in the EU has specified the length and composition of the IBAN for their country.

When an IBAN is printed on paper (e.g. letterheads and invoices) it is normally shown split into groups of four characters for easy recognition. When used electronically (e.g. in a payment message) it is a single string without spaces, as per the following samples:

CountryOn PaperElectronic
FranceFR14 2004 1010 0505 0001 3M02 606FR1420041010050500013M02606
NetherlandsNL91 ABNA 0417 1643 00NL91ABNA0417164300

A bank in Australia cannot provide you with the IBAN of the counterparty you are paying, nor advise if the IBAN quoted is correct. Currently, bank systems in Australia can only check that an IBAN quoted is the correct length for the country the payment is going to.

To check the validity of an IBAN, the following websites may be of assistance: