Skip to main content

Reference

Markdown export

IBAN

International Bank Account Number used for bank transfers.

Definition

International Bank Account Number used for bank transfers.

Why this term matters

IBAN sits in BT-84 PaymentAccountIdentifier and is the single field most German and EU AP systems read to set up the payment instruction. A wrong checksum, embedded spaces in the wrong place, or an IBAN belonging to a different beneficiary can either block the payment outright or — worse — route funds to an unintended account.

Explanation

Often required for credit transfer payment means.

Must be formatted correctly to avoid payment issues.

Common mistakes

  • Failing the ISO 7064 mod-97 checksum because of a typo in the BBAN portion.
  • Storing the IBAN with embedded spaces or hyphens — most validators reject anything that does not match /^[A-Z]{2}\d{2}[A-Z0-9]{11,30}$/ uppercase.
  • Using a country-code prefix that does not match the country issuing the account (e.g., DE on a French BBAN).
  • Assuming BT-86 is always required or always unnecessary. Check the beneficiary bank, recipient, and payment-channel instructions.

Frequently asked questions

How long can an IBAN be?

IBAN length is fixed per country, ranging from 15 (Norway) to 34 (Malta, Saint Lucia). The first 4 characters are always two-letter country code plus two check digits; the rest is the country-defined BBAN.

Should I store the IBAN with or without spaces?

Store it without spaces in machine-readable form (BT-84 expects a single string). For human-readable rendering on a PDF you can format with single spaces every 4 characters; the EN 16931 XML output should be unspaced uppercase.

Is BIC still required alongside IBAN inside SEPA?

BT-86 is optional in EN 16931 and Peppol. A bank, recipient, or payment channel can still require a BIC. Confirm the payment instructions instead of inferring the requirement from SEPA or currency alone.