IBAN & SEPA
SWIFT IBAN Registry
The SWIFT IBAN Registry is the official, authoritative reference document that lists every country's IBAN format. Maintained by SWIFT in its role as the ISO 13616 Registration Authority, it defines the exact BBAN structure, length, character types, and example IBANs for each participating country.
Each country that adopts the IBAN standard submits its domestic account format to SWIFT for registration. SWIFT verifies the format, assigns it an entry in the registry, and publishes the updated document (typically as a PDF and a structured data file). The registry specifies each country's IBAN length, the position and format of the bank code, branch code, and account number within the BBAN, and provides at least one example IBAN. It is updated periodically as new countries join or existing countries revise their formats.
Every IBAN validation tool — including BankCheck — ultimately derives its country rules from the SWIFT IBAN Registry. Without it, there would be no single source of truth for what constitutes a valid IBAN in each country. Banks, payment software vendors, and compliance teams reference the registry to ensure they reject malformed IBANs and correctly parse BBAN components.
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