SWIFT/BIC code

SWIFT/BIC code: an international bank identifier. BIC stands for Business Identifier Code, formerly Bank Identifier Code. The code format is set by the international standard ISO 9362, and the codes themselves are assigned and maintained by SWIFT. That is why BIC and SWIFT code mean the same thing, and bank details often say “BIC/SWIFT”. Banks use this code to find each other in the SWIFT network and in other payment messages, including those in the ISO 20022 format.

How the code is built

The code has 8 or 11 characters:

• 4 characters: the code of the bank or other financial institution;
• 2 letters: the country code under ISO 3166, for example CN, AE, TR;
• 2 characters: the location code;
• 3 characters, optional: the branch code.

An 8-character code points to the head office. An 11-character code ending in XXX means the same.

Not to be confused with BIK and IBAN

• Russian BIK: nine digits, the bank’s code in the Bank of Russia payment system. It works only for settlements within Russia and does not replace the SWIFT code for a transfer abroad.
• IBAN: the number of a specific account in an international format. The SWIFT/BIC code says which bank to pay, the IBAN says which account. In Europe both are required. Not every country uses IBAN: in China, for example, the account is given as a regular number.

Where it comes up

• In the contract and the invoice: in the seller’s bank details.
• In the payment message: as the code of the beneficiary’s bank. If that bank has no direct relationship with the sender’s bank, the transfer goes through an intermediary, and a second code appears in the bank details: that of the correspondent bank. More: correspondent account.
• In requests from the bank and the agent when they check the beneficiary.

What happens if there is an error

Because of an extra space, a mixed-up O and 0, or the code of the wrong branch, a payment goes to the wrong bank, gets stuck at a correspondent or comes back minus fees. To avoid this:

• check the code in a public BIC directory: the bank name, country and city must match the bank details;
• check that the code belongs to the branch where the beneficiary’s account is held;
• if the bank’s country differs from the seller’s country, ask the supplier why;
• if the supplier has sent new bank details by email, confirm them by phone or another channel. A sudden change of the beneficiary’s bank is a common fraud technique.

The bank details from the invoice go into the payment order to the agent, so we check the SWIFT/BIC code of the beneficiary’s bank before signing: an error is cheaper to find before the roubles are debited. More on the Invoice payments page.