IBAN - what is it? International bank account number

In modern society, international transfers have become very popular. And it's no secret that it is more convenient to execute them from a bank account. When you need to get a transfer from the countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area, as well as some other states, the sender will ask you for the IBAN code. What is this and what is it for?

The abbreviation IBAN stands for international bank account number. This means that it is an ordinary code that operates on an international site. It is assigned according to the accepted international standard.

Purpose and main advantages of IBAN

IBAN (international bank account number) is required for you if you decide to make a money transfer with crediting to an account with a bank located in an EU or EEA country or in some other countries. You can find out the code number by sending a request to the recipient of the funds.

If the code is not specified in the payment documents or if it is incorrectly written, the recipient will not receive the money. They will return to the sender, but not in full, but after deduction of the bank commission. The order related to the indication of IBAN in all payment orders, as part of payments in foreign currency in favor of clients of banking institutions of the EU and EEA countries, began its operation from January 1, Now this code is applied in more than ninety countries of the world.

Let's list the main advantages of using this identifier:

• Accounts in banking institutions are established in accordance with a single standard;
• Automatically checks the accuracy of bank accounts;
• There is an improvement in the quality of customer service ;
• Automatic processing of payments occurs;
• Payment is faster, and the cost of the transaction for the bank's customer is reduced;
• There is a decrease in the probability of making an error on the part of the operator when performing the transfer.

Code structure

Consider the structure of the IBAN code. What is this identifier itself, will help determine the decoding of the alphabetic and numeric characters from which it consists. The number of characters reaches 34, and each of them carries certain information:

• The first two characters are the country code in which the account holder's banking institution is located;
• The following two are a control unique code, which is established according to the international standard;
• The following four repeat the first four numerical values of the BIC code of the financial institution;
• The remaining figures represent a unique account code of the owner, which is set by the banking institution itself.

Which countries are already using the IBAN ID?

Over ninety countries of the world use the international bank account identifier in the banking system. Among them are the former union states - Georgia and Kazakhstan. In Russia, banking institutions do not yet have IBAN. What is this, most of our citizens have no idea. But now they often face the need to indicate this identifier for receiving money from abroad.

It is interesting that in Kazakhstan IBAN Sberbank is already using for remittances abroad, while the central office of Sberbank of Russia has not yet made such an innovation.

How to effect currency transfers to Russia?

As it became known, Russian banks do not use the IBAN identifier in their activities when carrying out transactions related to the transfer of funds from the EU and EEA countries. Therefore, our citizens may face some difficulties in their implementation. Since if you do not provide the European bank-sender with this code, he simply refuses to perform the operation.

What should I do in this case? If you are the sender yourself and you need to transfer some amount to Russia, try to explain the situation to the bank's employee. If you are a beneficiary, then explain to the sender that for the transfer to be done, you only need to specify the details that your Russian bank owns. If the conversation with the bank did not bring any result, contact another bank institution.

To transfer to an account opened in Sberbank or in some other banks, you will need to name the SWIFT and BIC codes (it does not have IBAN).

What is SWIFT? This code is a kind of analogue of IBAN, but unlike it, this identifier is valid in the Russian Federation.

The BIC code is an internal banking number that is set for any account serviced in Russia. It allows you to determine not only the account holder, but also the territorial location of the bank branch in which this account was opened.

Both these identifiers are included in the mandatory details of the account operating in Russia. In general, for European countries, it is sufficient to indicate these details in order for an operation to transfer funds.

How do I know if the beneficiary is an IBAN number?

If you enter the wrong IBAN code, the money simply does not reach the addressee and will return to the sender, minus the commission of the bank. The IBAN can be verified using the IBAN_checker program, developed by American Express Bank Ltd. For verification, you need to enter the code provided by the recipient in the corresponding line. The program determines the correctness of the code for the following parameters:

• The correctness of writing the identifier;
• The correct number of characters in the room.

If both of these indicators are correct, it means that the IBAN check has been successful, you have the correct data.