What does IBAN mean?

The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is a globally valid number for a current account. Specification is based on the ISO standard "ISO 13616:2003".

The aim of the development of IBAN was to improve and standardize the worldwide payment systems. The international standardization of the structure consisting of verification and account data (bank identification plus account identification) is intended to open up integration and automation potentials for data exchange between banks in different countries.

In international payment transactions, IBAN replaces the previous combination of account number and bank sort code. Since the identification of a bank account is different in each country, the standardisation should eliminate any problems that may arise. IBAN has become the standard for cross-border payment transactions within the EU and EFTA states.

With effect from 1 February 2014, the IBAN in the EU replaced the existing national account numbers for transfers. Building on the EU credit transfer, it was decided to establish a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), which will completely replace national payment systems from 1 February 2014.