The same thing. BIC is the official name (Business Identifier Code, ISO 9362); SWIFT is the organisation that issues them, so the code is often called a SWIFT code.

Why can’t a BIC be calculated from an IBAN?

An IBAN contains a national bank identifier, not the BIC. The two are linked by directories that each country’s central bank or payments body maintains, which is what this tool looks up.

IBAN to BIC lookup

Find the BIC for any IBAN.

Enter an IBAN to identify the bank, validate the account number, and find its BIC/SWIFT code.

Honest answer

Do you still need a BIC?

Inside SEPA, most euro transfers no longer require one: the IBAN alone is enough and banks derive the rest. You will still be asked for a BIC on many international transfers, older payment forms and some payroll or invoicing systems — that is what this tool is for.

Official data only

Where the data comes from

IBANs are validated locally: country, length and ISO 7064 check digits. Bank names and BICs come from official national registries that we import on a schedule — never from scraped or crowd-sourced lists.

See each registry's version, coverage and last check

What you get

One lookup, everything you need

Checksum, length and country-format validation with a plain-language reason when something is off
The bank behind the IBAN, as named in its national registry
The BIC in both its 8-character head-office and 11-character forms, with branch BICs where published
Mergers handled: an outdated identifier tells you which bank it is now part of and which BIC to use

The BIC, explained

Anatomy of a BIC.

A BIC identifies a bank, or one of its branches, anywhere in the world. It is eight or eleven characters long and reads as four parts. The example is Belfius Bank’s head office.

GKCC
1. Bank code
Four letters that identify the institution, usually an abbreviation of its name.
BE
2. Country
The ISO 3166 code of the country the institution is registered in.
BB
3. Location
Two characters for the city or region. A second character of 0 marks a test BIC, 1 a passive participant.
XXX
4. Branch
Optional. Three characters for a specific branch; XXX, or simply nothing, means the head office.

8 or 11 characters?: Both are correct. GKCCBEBB and GKCCBEBBXXX identify the same head office; only a real branch code, such as DEUTDEBB160, points somewhere more specific. Forms that insist on 11 characters accept the XXX form.
BIC or SWIFT code?: The same thing. BIC is the official name (Business Identifier Code, ISO 9362); SWIFT is the organisation that issues them, so the code is often called a SWIFT code.
Why can’t it be calculated?: An IBAN contains a national bank identifier, not the BIC. The two are linked by directories that each country’s central bank or payments body maintains, which is what this tool looks up.