IBAN (International Bank Account Number)

Roles that need it

• Payments Operations Analyst
• Retail Banking Advisor
• Master Data Specialist
• General Accountant

Skills it belongs to

• Payment systems and messaging (SWIFT, ISO 20022, SEPA, ACH, UPI)

Related concepts

• BIC (Business Identifier Code)The BIC, often called a Swift code, is the international identifier of a bank or other business, defined in ISO 9362. It has 8 or 11 characters: a four-character party prefix, a two-letter country code, a two-character suffix and an optional three-character branch code. Swift is the registration authority.
• SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area)The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is the area in which people, companies and public bodies make and receive euro credit transfers, instant payments and direct debits under the same rules, whether domestic or cross-border. It covers the EU, the European Economic Area and several other European countries, and rests on European Payments Council schemes and the SEPA Regulation.
• Verification of payee (VoP)Verification of payee is a check, made before a credit transfer is authorised, that the payee name given by the payer matches the name on the account behind the IBAN. The answer is a match, a close match with the right name, no match, or not possible. It is mandatory for euro transfers under the Instant Payments Regulation; the UK equivalent is Confirmation of Payee.
• Virtual accounts (virtual IBANs)Virtual accounts are sub-ledger account numbers, often virtual IBANs, that a bank issues on top of a real account so that each customer, subsidiary or invoice gets its own payment reference. Incoming funds land in the real account and are matched automatically. The 2024 EU anti-money laundering package brings virtual IBANs into national bank account registers.

Sources

• IBAN (International Bank Account Number), Swift (external site) accessed 31 Oct 2026
• Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 establishing technical and business requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euro (SEPA Regulation), EUR-Lex (external site) accessed 31 Oct 2026

Updated 31 Oct 2026.