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What are IBANs and BICs?

The Regulation is also intended to help banks automate their transfer
systems. An International Bank Account Number (IBAN) and a Bank
Identifier Code (BIC) are the prerequisites of automation and so the
customer must supply these data.

IBAN is the international bank account number of the payment
beneficiary. Existing bank account numbering systems are strictly
national and do not include any particulars indicating the country in
which an account is located. The IBAN standard consists simply in each
account number being preceded by a group of four characters: two letters
identifying the country, like an international telephone number, and two
figures enabling the IBAN to be checked in order to avoid transcription
errors. It comprises a maximum of 34 characters but has a fixed length
per country, i.e. 16 characters in Belgium and 27 in France.

Country
IBAN example
Austria AT617601300035746811
Belgium BE62510007547061
Denmark DK5000400440116243
Finland FI2112345600000785
France FR1420041010050500013M02606
Germany DE8937040044532013000
Greece GR1601101250000000012300695
Ireland IE29AIBK93115212345678
Italy IT40S0542811101000000123456
Luxembourg LU280019400644750000
Netherlands NL39RABO0300065264
Portugal PT50000201231234567890154
Spain ES0700120345030000067890
Sweden SE3550000000054910000003
United Kingdom GB29NWBK60161331926819


The BIC (Bank Identifier Code) simply designates the payment
beneficiary's bank. It adds to the information provided by the IBAN
code. It usually consists of 11 characters, but sometimes only 8. The
BIC is also known as the SWIFT code or address.