Swift code or BIC Code is a standard format to identify a bank or financial institution. SWIFT stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication which is located in La Hulpe, Belgium and BIC stands for Business Identifier Codes.
The codes are generally used while transferring the cash between banks, especially for international wire transfers.
The Swift code can be either 8 characters or 11 characters long. First 8 digits code refers to the primary office. The SWIFT code consists of 4 separate sections, and the Swift Code format is as follows:
CCCC DD EE FFF
- The first 4 characters (“CCCC”) represents the Bank / Financial Institution Code. It should contain only alphabatic characters.
- The next 2 characters (“DD”) specify the ISO Country code where the instituion is located. The code follows the format of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code.
- The next 2 characters (“EE”) represents the Bank / Instiution location. This can be letters and digits.
- The last 3 characters (“FFF”) represents the Bank / Institution’s branch, which is an optional for primary office.
