What is a SWIFT code?
SWIFT codes are used to identify banks and fiscal institutions worldwide. They are used by the swift net to transmit cable transfers ( money transactions ) and messages between them. For international cable transfers, swift codes are always required in order to make transactions secure and fast.
These codes were initially introduced by the SWIFT organization as “ swift codes ” but were later standardized by the International Organization for Standardization ( ISO ) as “ BIC ” meaning “ Business Identifier Codes ”. Most people think B.I.C. stands for “ Bank Identifier Codes ” ( “ bank ” alternatively of “ occupation ” ) but that is incorrect since non-financial institutions can besides join the western fence lizard network .
A “ BIC code ” can be seen by many different names, like “ SWIFT code ” ( most park ), “ SWIFT ID ”, “ SWIFT-BIC ”, “ SWIFT address ”, “ BEI ” ( that comes from “ Business Entity Identifier ” ), or even “ ISO 9362 ”, which is the standard format that has been approved by the ISO administration. The acronym SWIFT stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication .
In depth analysis of a swift code
Swift codes are broken down into sections, in the lapp way telephone numbers are broken into sections, and every incision reveals some information about the institution that was assigned this code. They consist of eight or eleven characters. Whenever an eight-character code is used, then it is referring to the headquarters ( main agency ) of the institution.Here is how an 11-character code is broken down and what each section of characters represents. Let ‘s take this imaginary 11-character swift code :
AAAABBCCDDD
It can be broken down to these sections :
AAAA – BB – CC – DDD
Section 1 ( the first 4-characters “ AAAA ” ) : This code is used to identify the institution ’ mho ball-shaped bearing ( all branches and all divisions around the world ). For example, “ CHAS ” is used for “ JPMORGAN CHASE BANK ”
Section 2 ( 5th and 6th characters “ BB ” ) : This two-letter code represents the nation of this especial institution ’ second branch and follows the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 standard for representing country codes. For model, “ US ” for “ UNITED STATES ”, “ GB ” for “ UNITED KINGDOM ”, CA for “ CANADA ”, etc .
Section 3 ( 7th and 8th characters “ CC ” ) : These characters represent a location code ( e.g. “ FF ” is the code for “ Frankfurt ”, “ KK ” is the code for Copenhagen, etc. ) and besides the second character ( 8th in the B.I.C. ) sometimes carries this data :
- If it is equal to “0”, then it typically is a BIC assigned for testing purposes (as opposed to a BIC used on the live network).
- If it is equal to “1”, then it denotes a passive participant in the SWIFT network.
- If it is equal to “2”, then it typically denotes a “reverse billing” BIC, meaning that the recipient of the message has to pay for the message.
Section 4 ( 9th to 11th characters “ DDD ” ) : These concluding three characters form a “ branch code ” that refers to the particular branch of the institution. If this section is omitted, then we have an 8-character swift code that is assumed to refer to the HEAD OFFICE of the institution. besides, a distinctive identify convention is that in the case we are referring to the main offices of an institution, this arm code is “ XXX ” .
Some popular western fence lizard code searches :
Try our on-line SWIFT/BIC search instrument to locate any of the thousands active or passive swift codes. Our chief focus is to provide you with the most accurate and astir to date database of fiscal institutions all over the world. You can search for an mental hospital ’ randomness detailed data by entity name, BIC, or tied specific keywords that narrow the search results even more. You can besides browse for western fence lizard codes by clicking on the list of countries and then choosing the institution ‘s name from the alphabetic list .
We are certain that this locate will help you save a bunch of clock time ( therefore … money ! ), particularly if you are dealing with lots of bank transactions daily. Please read our disclaimer at the bottom of this page before using our on-line tool .
