What is a SWIFT/BIC code?
The code that names the bank.

A SWIFT code is the 8 or 11 character code that identifies a bank or other institution in an international payment. Its official name is BIC, the Business Identifier Code, defined by the ISO 9362 standard. The sender's bank uses it to address the payment to the right institution. It identifies the institution only: the recipient's account is identified separately, by an IBAN or an account number.

Yes. SWIFT code, BIC and SWIFT/BIC code are names for the same identifier. BIC is the name in the ISO 9362 standard, and Swift, the cooperative that runs the network banks use to send payment messages, is the registration authority that issues BICs. Many banks still write BIC out as Bank Identifier Code. ISO 9362 and Swift call it the Business Identifier Code.

It is 8 or 11 capital letters and digits with no spaces, such as CHASUS33 or CHASUS33XXX. The first four characters identify the institution, the next two are its country code, the next two complete the 8-character code, and an optional three identify a branch or unit. In CHASUS33XXX, CHAS is the prefix of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., US is the United States, and XXX is the head office.

8 or 11. The 8-character code identifies the institution. An 11-character code adds a 3-character branch identifier for a branch, department, service or unit of that institution in the same country. Swift's BIC Policy says that an 8-character BIC registered without branch details is given an 11-character form ending in XXX, and that the two are equivalent.

XXX is the default branch identifier, and it points to the head office of the institution. So a code ending in XXX means the same as its first eight characters on their own: BOFAUS3NXXX and BOFAUS3N are the same Bank of America code, the one it gives for incoming wires in US dollars.

Use the exact code the recipient's bank publishes or gives the recipient. If a payment form asks for 11 characters and you have an 8-character code, adding XXX gives the same identifier. If the bank gave a code with a branch identifier other than XXX, use it as given, because it points to a specific unit of the bank.

It can, but often it does not. A branch identifier can name a branch, department, service or unit of the bank. Many banks give one code for payments from abroad: JPMorgan Chase gives CHASUS33 and CommBank gives CTBAAU2S. Use the code the recipient's bank publishes for incoming international payments.

No. A SWIFT code identifies a bank for an international payment. An ABA routing number is a nine-digit number that identifies a US financial institution for payments inside the US, such as checks, ACH transfers and domestic wires. A US bank has both: Bank of America gives the routing number 026009593 for domestic wires and the SWIFT code BOFAUS3N for international wires in US dollars.

No. The SWIFT code identifies the bank. The IBAN, the International Bank Account Number defined by ISO 13616, identifies one account at that bank, and its length is set per country: 22 characters in the UK and Germany, 24 in Spain and 27 in France. A payment from abroad into a country that uses IBANs usually needs both. Santander UK and Barclays, for example, tell their customers to give a sender abroad both.

No. A UK sort code is a six-digit number that routes payments between banks inside the UK. A SWIFT code identifies the bank for a payment from abroad. A UK IBAN contains the sort code and the account number, so a payment from abroad into a UK account usually needs the IBAN and the SWIFT code rather than the sort code on its own.

No. A SWIFT code never identifies a person or an account. ISO 9362 applies to organisations only, so a SWIFT code is shared by all the customers of the institution it identifies. The account is identified by an IBAN, or by the account number and any national bank code, such as the 6-digit BSB that CommBank customers give with their 8-digit account number.

Yes. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, for example, publish BOFAUS3N, CHASUS33 and WFBIUS6S for international wires. The US does not use IBANs, so a payment from abroad into a US account uses the SWIFT code with the account number.

Look on your bank's own website, on its page about receiving payments from abroad. Bank of America, Barclays, Santander UK and CommBank each publish their codes there. Give the sender the code your bank publishes for your account and currency, not a code copied from a list. To confirm which institution a code belongs to, search it in Swift's BIC directory.

Because a SWIFT code identifies one institution, and a banking group is several institutions, or because a bank splits incoming payments by currency or service. Santander UK uses ABBYGB2L while Banco Santander in Spain uses BSCHESMM. Barclays Bank UK PLC uses BUKBGB22 and Barclays Bank PLC uses BARCGB22. Bank of America uses BOFAUS3N for wires in US dollars and BOFAUS6S for wires in a foreign currency. Match the code to the institution that holds the account and to the currency.

Swift does. It is the registration authority for ISO 9362, so it issues BICs and publishes them in its BIC directory. The institution that holds a BIC is responsible for keeping its record correct and must confirm the record at least once a year. Not every BIC is connected to the Swift network: a non-connected BIC is used for reference only.

No. A SWIFT code says which bank a payment goes to, and every payment to that bank carries the same code. The reference that identifies one payment is the UETR, the 36-character Unique End-to-end Transaction Reference on the sending bank's confirmation. Paste it into uetr.ai: the free check shows the plain-language status and how many banks have reported.