Business identifier code: Difference between revisions

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SWIFT, in its role of ISO Registration Authority, issues BICs to financial and non-financial institutions connected to the SWIFT network, as well as to non-connected institutions. The BIC is used in financial transactions, exchange of messages between institutions, client and counterparty databases, compliance documents and many others.
SWIFT, in its role of ISO Registration Authority, issues BICs to financial and non-financial institutions connected to the SWIFT network, as well as to non-connected institutions. The BIC is used in financial transactions, exchange of messages between institutions, client and counterparty databases, compliance documents and many others.


BICs are 8 (BIC8) or 11 (BIC11)alphanumeric character strings and have no spaces in the strings. BIC8s can be taken as referring to the principal office. BIC11s add 3 alphabetic characters to be more specific - a department or a physical branch for example and these three characters are often called the branch code.
BICs are 8 (BIC8) or 11 (BIC11) alphanumeric character strings and have no spaces in the strings. BIC8s can be taken as referring to the principal office. BIC11s add 3 alphabetic characters to be more specific - a department or a physical branch for example and these three characters are often called the branch code.


In the BIC8:
In the BIC8:
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*[[SWIFT]]
*[[SWIFT]]


[[Category:Payment_and_Clearing_Systems]]
[[Category:Cash_management]]

Revision as of 15:02, 19 June 2014

Business identifier code, also known as the BIC, is a unique identification code for a particular institution or a part of it. It was originally called the bank identifier code. BICs follow the standards set out in ISO 9362:2009, the 3rd edition issued by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

SWIFT, in its role of ISO Registration Authority, issues BICs to financial and non-financial institutions connected to the SWIFT network, as well as to non-connected institutions. The BIC is used in financial transactions, exchange of messages between institutions, client and counterparty databases, compliance documents and many others.

BICs are 8 (BIC8) or 11 (BIC11) alphanumeric character strings and have no spaces in the strings. BIC8s can be taken as referring to the principal office. BIC11s add 3 alphabetic characters to be more specific - a department or a physical branch for example and these three characters are often called the branch code.

In the BIC8: The first 4 characters are alphabetic and identify the institution and are often referred to as the institution code. Characters 5-6 are two character alphabetic country codes from ISO 3166-1 to identify where the institution is located. Characters 7-8, that may be alphabetic or numeric, make this more precise, identifying a region or a city for example. They are often called the location code.

As an example of how it works in practice, and taking a non-bank, Diageo plc's London HQ has BIC8 DIAGGB2L. Its Warwick branch, called "Reverse Billing", has DIAGGB2LCTB.

See also