Is an IBAN SEPA?

"Is this IBAN SEPA?" is the first step in assessing whether a transfer can be SEPA. Most of the answer is hidden in the first two characters of the IBAN — that is, the country code. In this guide we explain how you can tell whether an IBAN belongs to a SEPA country and what that means.

The country code is decisive

Every IBAN begins with a country code (such as DE, FR, TR). If that country is within the SEPA geographical scope, the IBAN belongs to a SEPA country. SEPA scope is not limited to EU members; it also includes countries such as Switzerland and the United Kingdom. To quickly check whether an IBAN belongs to a SEPA country, you can use the IBAN validation tool; the tool shows the country and the SEPA scope. To look up countries one by one, see the SEPA country lookup tool.

Is being a SEPA country enough?

No. The IBAN belonging to a SEPA country is a necessary condition, but it is not sufficient. For a transfer to actually be processed as SEPA, the following conditions are also needed:

• The transaction being in euros (SEPA only carries euros).
• Both the sending and the receiving bank supporting the relevant scheme.
• The transaction being initiated from the correct (SEPA) screen.

If one of these conditions is not met, even if the IBAN belongs to a SEPA country, the transaction can fall back to SWIFT. To assess the type of the transaction based on signals, you can use the SEPA or SWIFT detector.

The TR IBAN situation

Because Turkey is not within the SEPA geographical scope, IBANs starting with TR do not belong to a SEPA country. Therefore, euro transfers to or from a TR IBAN are a SWIFT transaction, not SEPA. For the current status, see the Turkey SEPA status page.

Summary

Whether an IBAN is SEPA is determined by the country code in its first two characters: if the country is within SEPA scope, the IBAN belongs to a SEPA country. But for the transfer to be SEPA, it must also be in euros and have bank support. TR IBANs do not belong to a SEPA country because Turkey is outside SEPA.