Business Identifier Code (BIC)

wikipedia:Business Identifier Code (formerly Bank Identifier Code)

The SWIFT code is 8 or 11 characters, made up of:

• 4 letters: institution code or bank code.
• 2 letters: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code (exceptionally, SWIFT has assigned the code XK to Republic of Kosovo, which does not have an ISO 3166-1 country code)
• 2 letters or digits: location code
  • if the second character is "0", then it is typically a test BIC as opposed to a BIC used on the live network.
  • if the second character is "1", then it denotes a passive participant in the SWIFT network
  • if the second character is "2", then it typically indicates a reverse billing BIC, where the recipient pays for the message as opposed to the more usual mode whereby the sender pays for the message.
• 3 letters or digits: branch code, optional ('XXX' for primary office)

Related

• Bank Identification Number (BIN)
• FIN/InterAct
• IBAN

See also

• SWIFT, Messaging Services, IBAN, BIC, BIN, UETR, ABA, Routing number, Account Number, ISO 20022, ISO 15022, Sibos (conference), SWIFT Innotribe, message types, Flexcube, 2015–2016 SWIFT banking hack, SWIFT Translator, FileAct, EBICS, Instructed Agent (INDA), Instructing Agent (INGA), SWIFT Alliance Gateway (SAG), MERVA, IBM Financial Transaction Manager for SWIFT Services, Interact, MT, SIPN, FIN, security, ITB, RMA, Swift Local Link (SLL), SWIFT Main Message Flow (MMF), CSP, SwiftRef, PreVal, Personal Token, TMS