ISO 9362 - Structure

Structure

The latest edition is ISO 9362:2009 (dated 2009-10-01). The SWIFT code is 8 or 11 characters, made up of:

  • 4 letters: Institution Code or bank code.
  • 2 letters: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code
  • 2 letters or digits: location code
    • if the second character is "0", then it is typically a test BIC as opposed to a BIC used on the live network.
    • if the second character is "1", then it denotes a passive participant in the SWIFT network
    • if the second character is "2", then it typically indicates a reverse billing BIC, where the recipient pays for the message
      as opposed to the more usual mode whereby the sender pays for the message.
  • 3 letters or digits: branch code, optional ('XXX' for primary office)

Where an 8-digit code is given, it may be assumed that it refers to the primary office.

SWIFT Standards, a division of The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), handles the registration of these codes. Because SWIFT originally introduced what was later standardized as Business Identifier Codes (BICs), they are still often called SWIFT addresses or codes.

The 2009 update of ISO 9362 broadened the scope to include non-financial institutions, before then BIC was commonly understood to be an acronym for Bank Identifier Code.

There are over 7,500 "live" codes (for partners actively connected to the BIC network) and an estimated 10,000 additional BIC codes which can be used for manual transactions.

Read more about this topic:  ISO 9362

Famous quotes containing the word structure:

    “Who says that fictions only and false hair
    Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?
    Is all good structure in a winding stair?
    May no lines pass, except they do their duty
    Not to a true, but painted chair?”
    —George Herbert (1593–1633)

    “Women over fifty already form one of the largest groups in the population structure of the western world. As long as they like themselves, they will not be an oppressed minority. In order to like themselves they must reject trivialization by others of who and what they are. A grown woman should not have to masquerade as a girl in order to remain in the land of the living.”
    —Germaine Greer (b. 1939)

    “Vashtar: So it’s finished. A structure to house one man and the greatest treasure of all time.
    Senta: And a structure that will last for all time.
    Vashtar: Only history will tell that.
    Senta: Sire, will he not be remembered?
    Vashtar: Yes, he’ll be remembered. The pyramid’ll keep his memory alive. In that he built better than he knew.”
    —William Faulkner (1897–1962)