BIC / SWIFT Code Lookup
Decode the structure of a BIC/SWIFT code: institution code, country, location and branch code. Structural validity is checked.
Updated:
Privacy: The calculation runs in your browser; the full IBAN, account number, amount and reference you enter are not sent to a server, logged or passed to analytics. Some tools may pass only a non-sensitive term (e.g. bank code, BIC, currency) to a lookup service for search/matching. Per-tool detail: Privacy.
How does this tool calculate?
Definite — mathematical/standard result- Method/formula used
- Structural parsing of the BIC/SWIFT under ISO 9362: 4-letter institution + 2-letter country + 2 location (+ optional 3 branch).
- Data used
- ISO 9362 (BIC) structure rules and ISO 3166 country codes
- Unsupported cases
- Does not guarantee the bank/branch is actually active
- Lengths other than 8/11
BIC/SWIFT structure
A BIC (Bank Identifier Code) consists of 8 or 11 characters under the ISO 9362 standard:
- Institution code (4 letters): Identifies the bank.
- Country code (2 letters): ISO 3166 country code.
- Location code (2 alphanumeric): City/head office. A second character of "0" indicates a test BIC, "1" a passive BIC.
- Branch code (3 alphanumeric, optional): Present in an 11-character BIC. "XXX" or no code means the head office.
Relationship between 8 and 11 characters
An 8-character BIC refers to the bank's head office. It can be completed to 11 characters by appending "XXX"; for a specific branch, the 11th position holds that branch's code.
In V1 we do not claim to have a global bank database; this tool only decodes the structure of the code. For German BLZ→BIC mapping, use the BLZ lookup tool.