What is an IBAN?
IBAN stands for ‘International Bank Account Number.’ IBANs identify banks according to international agreement. IBANs are mandatory for the UK and EEA (European Economic Area) countries. Each country has a different number of characters in their IBANs.
This is an example of an IBAN for the United Kingdom:
GB29NWBK60161331926819.
An IBAN has four components and is a mixture of alpha and numeric characters:
- an ISO country code
- bank and branch identifier
- beneficiary account number
- two check digits.
The two check digits in the IBAN help banks verify that your payment details are correct.
Why you need to give us your recipient’s BIC and IBAN
When you make a payment to a recipient in the UK or EEA (European Economic Area), you need to provide us with the BIC and IBAN to allow us to process the transaction.
Which countries do I need a BIC/SWIFT and an IBAN for?
We need you to quote a BIC/SWIFT and IBAN when sending payments to the following countries:
The UK and all EU and EEA countries: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden
and also the following countries: Andorra, Bahrain, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Gibraltar, Greenland, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova, Monaco, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates.