How to validate international bank details for payments

Cross-border payments can be validated using unique bank identifiers that are provided to all bank accounts and banks that are part of the wider international payments schemes available. The main two identifiers are the IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and SWIFT (The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication).

IBAN

IBANs are given by the banks to each bank account to identify that particular account across the world. The IBAN can be seen as an international version of the UK bank account number, and when validated, can tell you if the bank account exists and is able to accept/receive payments. Due to the scale of this standard, unlike the standard 8-digit UK account number, an IBAN can be up to 34 alphanumeric characters.

A UK IBAN example is GB99 NWBK 1234 5612 3456 78, which consists of a 2-letter country code, 2 check digits, a 4-letter bank code, 6-digit sort code, and 8-digit account number.

SWIFT

A SWIFT code is used to identify either a bank using a SWIFT BIC (Bank Identifier Code) 8 or a branch using a SWIFT BIC 11. This is similar to a UK sort code in identifying the bank and branch that the account is held by. SWIFT is the messaging network that allows banks to transfer payments cross-border. Over 11,000 institutions use the SWIFT network to send payments to over 200 different countries.

When validating a SWIFT BIC, along with the validation result, you also get the SWIFT BIC’s country, bank address and any service codes tied to that code. The service codes represent the different types of network formats within the SWIFT network that the banks use.

A breakdown of some of the SWIFT service codes can be found here.

Using the example BKENGB2LXXX (Bank of England): 

• BKEN (Bank Code): Identifies the bank (abbreviation).
• GB (Country Code): Indicates the country (e.g., GB for UK).
• 2L (Location Code): Identifies the bank’s head office/location.
• XXX (Branch Code): Specifies a specific branch, or ‘XXX’ for the head office.

BankVal International

Like with the BankVal UK modulus check, BankVal International can allow you to validate a bank/branch and bank account combination, using both the SWIFT and IBAN validation checks to make sure the bank details received exist. With BankVal International you can validate SWIFT and IBAN to ensure your payments are processed correctly. International bank validation reduces fraud and saves time correcting incorrect bank details for payments.