What is the difference between BIC8 and BIC11?

BIC8 is an 8-character code identifying the primary (head) office of a bank — for example, DEUTDEDB for Deutsche Bank Germany. BIC11 adds a 3-character branch code suffix — for example, DEUTDEDBFRA for the Frankfurt branch. When sending an international wire transfer, BIC8 routes to the bank's main processing centre, while BIC11 routes to a specific branch. Many payment systems automatically append XXX to a BIC8 to create a BIC11 when required by the receiving bank's system.

Is SWIFT the same as IBAN?

No — they serve different purposes. A SWIFT/BIC code identifies the bank institution (like a bank's address on the international network). An IBAN identifies the specific account at that bank. International wire transfers typically need both: the BIC to route the message to the correct bank, and the IBAN (or local account number) to credit the right account. Within SEPA in Europe, only the IBAN is required for euro transfers — the BIC can be derived automatically. Outside SEPA, most transfers require both.

What does the location code second character mean?

The second character of the location code (position 8 in a BIC) has special meaning: a digit "1" means the bank is a passive SWIFT participant (receives messages but does not initiate them — common for test or non-live connections); a digit "2" indicates reverse billing (the receiver pays the SWIFT messaging costs instead of the sender); any other alphanumeric character indicates a standard active participant. Most BICs you encounter in everyday banking are active participants with a letter or "0" in this position.

SWIFT / BIC Code Lookup

Decode a BIC into its bank, country, location and branch components.

SWIFT / BIC Code Lookup

Validate and decode SWIFT BIC codes per ISO 9362 · 100% client-side

SWIFT / BIC Code

Examples:

Enter a SWIFT/BIC code above to validate and decode it.

BIC Structure (ISO 9362)

AAAA BB CC DDD

Bank code
4 letters

Country
2 letters

Location
2 chars

Branch
3 chars (opt.)

BIC and IBAN do different jobs

They are often requested together and answer different questions. The BIC identifies the institution — which bank, in which country, at which office. The IBAN identifies the account at that institution.

Within the SEPA area, the IBAN alone is now sufficient for euro transfers; the BIC is derivable from it and asking for one is largely legacy behaviour. Outside SEPA, and for most currency transfers, both are typically required.

For payments to the United States, neither applies in the domestic system: US banks use a 9-digit ABN routing number, and the US does not use IBANs at all. Similar national schemes exist elsewhere — UK sort codes, Canadian transit numbers, Australian BSBs — and international transfers to those countries generally need both the national identifier and the SWIFT BIC.

International transfers without surprises

Ask who pays the intermediary fees —The SHA/OUR/BEN option decides whether you, the recipient, or both absorb correspondent bank charges. Under SHA — the common default — the recipient can receive noticeably less than you sent.
Expect intermediary banks to take a cut —A transfer may route through two or three correspondent banks, each of which may deduct a fee. This is why the amount arriving is sometimes unexplainably short.
The exchange rate is usually the largest cost —Bank spreads of 3–5% dwarf the stated transfer fee. Compare the effective rate, not the fee.
Include a clear reference —Payments without a reference get held in suspense while someone works out what they are for.
Verify details out of band —Invoice fraud works by emailing changed bank details. Confirm any change by phone using a number you already had, never one from the email.
Allow for value dates —SWIFT transfers commonly take 1–5 business days, and weekends and public holidays in either country add to that.

About

The SWIFT/BIC Code Lookup validates Business Identifier Codes (BIC) against the ISO 9362 standard and decodes each component. A BIC consists of: a 4-letter bank code identifying the institution, a 2-letter ISO country code, a 2-character location code (with the second character indicating active/passive/reverse-billing participants), and an optional 3-character branch code (XXX denotes the primary office). BIC8 (8 characters) always refers to the primary office; BIC11 (11 characters) refers to a specific branch. All validation runs locally — no BIC data is transmitted.

How to use

1 Type or paste a SWIFT/BIC code into the input field — spaces are stripped automatically and the code is uppercased.
2 Use the example buttons to test well-known BICs from Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, HSBC, ICICI, and SBI.
3 Valid codes show a colour-coded breakdown of all four components with explanations for each.
4 The location code note explains whether the bank is an active participant, passive participant (second character = 1), or uses reverse billing (second character = 2).
5 The branch code section distinguishes between primary office (XXX) and specific branch codes.
6 The visual BIC structure diagram at the bottom shows the positional layout for reference.

What is the difference between BIC8 and BIC11?: BIC8 is an 8-character code identifying the primary (head) office of a bank — for example, DEUTDEDB for Deutsche Bank Germany. BIC11 adds a 3-character branch code suffix — for example, DEUTDEDBFRA for the Frankfurt branch. When sending an international wire transfer, BIC8 routes to the bank's main processing centre, while BIC11 routes to a specific branch. Many payment systems automatically append XXX to a BIC8 to create a BIC11 when required by the receiving bank's system.
Is SWIFT the same as IBAN?: No — they serve different purposes. A SWIFT/BIC code identifies the bank institution (like a bank's address on the international network). An IBAN identifies the specific account at that bank. International wire transfers typically need both: the BIC to route the message to the correct bank, and the IBAN (or local account number) to credit the right account. Within SEPA in Europe, only the IBAN is required for euro transfers — the BIC can be derived automatically. Outside SEPA, most transfers require both.
What does the location code second character mean?: The second character of the location code (position 8 in a BIC) has special meaning: a digit "1" means the bank is a passive SWIFT participant (receives messages but does not initiate them — common for test or non-live connections); a digit "2" indicates reverse billing (the receiver pays the SWIFT messaging costs instead of the sender); any other alphanumeric character indicates a standard active participant. Most BICs you encounter in everyday banking are active participants with a letter or "0" in this position.

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