International Bank Account Number

Since the market adoption of International Bank Account Number (IBAN) in Europe and other regions, it has become a community standard when stating beneficiary account in payments. In order to reduce the risk of delayed payments or additional fees to a minimum, the sender has to indicate the SWIFT/BIC address of the receiver's bank, as well as the IBAN number.

The IBAN consists of a country code, a check digit, and a bank code followed by the existing account number. The combination of these elements in the IBAN enables the payers to have additional logical check that can help to avoid manual errors when entering account in the payment order. Such avoidable manual mistakes almost always lead to payment delays for the ultimate beneficiary of the payment, increased fees or rejection of the payment order.

Example of what an IBAN-based account number looks like

Account number: 5249 10 xxx xx

IBAN for non-electronic transfers: SE35 5000 0000 0524 910x xxxx

IBAN for electronic transfers: SE35500000000524910xxxxx

SWIFT address: ESSESESS

In the example the country code is SE (Sweden) followed by two check digits.

The length of the IBAN may vary between countries, as you can see in the IBAN Calculation tool.

Please make sure you indicate the IBAN and SWIFT address on your payment instructions and invoices.