BIC

What does BIC mean? 

BIC stands for Business Identifier Code and is a unique code to identify financial institutions such as banks worldwide. Another standard in Europe is the IBAN format. It serves to uniquely identify the individual accounts of private individuals, banks and governments at a financial institution. Every financial account of a customer has a unique IBAN number.

What is a BIC code used for? 

Every IBAN bank account number contains information that makes it unnecessary, for a bank transfer to another IBAN account number, to specify to which country and which bank the amount should go. Outside the IBAN zone, however, it is still necessary to provide the BIC identification code of the bank that manages the recipient's account. The BIC consists of eight to eleven characters and is again unique per bank.

BIC was developed by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). SWIFT is responsible for all worldwide financial transactions and messages. For that reason, the BIC code used to be known as the SWIFT code.

What does a BIC code look like?

A BIC is made up of a series of numbers and letters, each referring to a specific part of the bank and its details. For example, the BIC code of Belfius Bank is GKCCBEBB.

These letters have the following meaning:

The branch or department number may be omitted. If a reference to a branch or department is not relevant, this part can be replaced by XXX. In the case of a payment to e.g. Deutsche Bank, this then becomes DEUTDEFFXXX.

Examples

The examples below illustrate what a BIC code might look like.

• ABN AMRO Bank: ABNANL2A
• BNP Paribas Fortis: GEBABEBB
• Deutsche Bank Frankfurt: DEUTDEFFXXX

Where can I find a BIC code?

You can find a list of BIC codes of all financial institutions active in Belgium on the website of the National Bank. You can find the specific BIC code of your bank on its website.