# 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).
- Sending only the IBAN without BIC for cross-border payments outside SEPA — many corporate banks still need BT-86 PaymentServiceProviderIdentifier for non-SEPA flows.

## 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?
No — since February 2016 the SEPA "IBAN-only" rule applies and BIC is optional for euro payments within SEPA. For non-euro or non-SEPA cross-border payments, BIC remains required.

## Related resources

- [Convert invoices](/convert)

## Related terms

- [BIC](/resources/glossary/bic): Bank Identifier Code (SWIFT) used to identify banks in international payments.
- [Payment means](/resources/glossary/payment-means): Code describing how an invoice is paid (e.g., bank transfer, card, cash).