A BIC (Business Identifier Code), often called a SWIFT code, identifies a bank or other financial institution rather than an individual account. According to the European Central Bank's glossary, a BIC has eight or eleven characters: a four-character institution code, a two-character country code, a two-character location code and an optional three-character branch code, and SWIFT is the registration authority. On an invoice it sits in the payment details next to the IBAN, which identifies the account itself. Example: “IBAN NL00 BANK 0123 4567 89, BIC BANKNL2A” (placeholders, not a real bank) shows the pattern: BANK is the institution, NL the country, 2A the location. Common mistakes: giving the BIC without the IBAN or account number, since the BIC alone doesn't say whose account to credit, and copying a BIC from a search result instead of from your own bank's details, which can point a payment at the wrong branch or institution. If your bank gives you an eleven-character BIC, use the full code.
What is a BIC or SWIFT code?
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