IBANpedia: the IBAN explained
Plain-language guides to the International Bank Account Number: where it came from, how it works and why it looks different in every country.
- What is an IBAN? The international account number, part by part: country code, check digits and the national account number.
- A short history of the IBAN From a European banking committee in the 1990s to a registry used worldwide: the standard, its revisions and the countries that joined.
- IBAN formats by country Why a Norwegian IBAN has 15 characters and a Maltese one 31, with the format of every country we support.
- How IBAN check digits work The MOD-97 method step by step, with a worked example you can follow on paper and a few lines of code.
- National check digits in the IBAN The check digits many countries keep inside the account number, from the French clé RIB to the Italian CIN, and how they differ from the IBAN ones.
- IBAN vs BIC (SWIFT code) One code points to an account, the other to a bank. When you need each one, and why SEPA dropped the BIC.
- IBAN and SEPA How the Single Euro Payments Area made the IBAN the only number you need for a euro transfer.
- Countries that do not use IBAN The US, Canada, Australia, China and India identify accounts differently. What they use, and how to pay into them.
- Test IBANs for developers and QA What validators actually check, the mistakes that break IBAN handling, and how to get test IBANs into your pipeline.
Need a test IBAN?
Generate a valid IBAN for any of 91 countries, copy it in the format you need and see what each segment means.