SWIFT

BIC Policy
This document provides a general description of the rules related to the registration and publication of BICs. It also
provides guidelines for the use of BICs as identifiers and addresses within the SWIFT messaging service.

19 June 2009
 Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Preface ............................................................................................................................................. 3 
1  Entity Identifiers ..................................................................................................................... 4 
1.1  Purpose of the BIC ..................................................................................................................4 
1.2  Purpose of the BEI ..................................................................................................................4 
1.3  Structure of the BIC.................................................................................................................4 
1.4  SWIFT BIC and Non-SWIFT BIC ............................................................................................5 
2  BIC Registration ..................................................................................................................... 6 
2.1  Rules .......................................................................................................................................6 
2.2  Institution Code .......................................................................................................................6 
2.3  Country Code ..........................................................................................................................6 
2.4  Location Code (Region and Suffix Codes) .............................................................................6 
2.5  Branch Code ...........................................................................................................................7 
2.6  Additional BICs........................................................................................................................7 
3  Directory Publication ............................................................................................................. 8 
3.1  Directory Availability ................................................................................................................8 
3.2  Published Versus Unpublished ...............................................................................................8 
3.3  Directory Information ...............................................................................................................8 
4  BIC Usage in SWIFT Messaging ........................................................................................... 9 
4.1  Network address .....................................................................................................................9 
4.2  Party identifier within messages .............................................................................................9 
4.3  Validation of BICs....................................................................................................................9 
5  Ordering a BIC ..................................................................................................................... 10 
5.1  Activating a BIC.....................................................................................................................10 
5.2  De-activating a BIC ...............................................................................................................10 
5.3  Ordering a BIC1 ....................................................................................................................10 
5.4  Deleting a BIC1 .....................................................................................................................10 
5.5  Lead Times ...........................................................................................................................10 
Legal Notices ................................................................................................................................. 12 

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 Preface

Preface
Purpose of this document
This document provides a general description of the rules related to the registration and
publication of BICs. It also provides guidelines for the use of BICs as identifiers and addresses
within the SWIFT messaging service.
This Policy is an integral part of the contractual arrangement between SWIFT and its customers.

Intended audience
SWIFT intends this document for its customers.
In particular, the following persons should read this document:
• technical experts who operate the SWIFT service
• business decision makers who deal with entity identification, risk management, and
exposure management
• legal, audit and compliance officers
• vendors who integrate BICs into services and applications

Related documentation
• SWIFT User Handbook – Corporate Rules (By-Laws)
• SWIFT User Handbook – FIN Service Description
• SWIFT User Handbook – SWIFTNet Service Description
• SWIFT User Handbook – SWIFTNet Naming and Addressing Guide

SWIFT-defined terms
This document contains terms that have a specific meaning in the context of SWIFT
documentation (for example, customer, user, or SWIFT services and products).
The definitions of SWIFT-defined terms appear either in this document or in the SWIFT Glossary.
In this document SWIFT differentiates these terms as shown in this example:
SWIFT provides secure, standardised messaging services and interface software to its
customers.
Significant changes
This document is the first edition of the BIC Registration and Publication Policy.
This document is intended to replace other references to the rules related to registration and
publication of BICs set out elsewhere in the SWIFT documentation. Until such other
documentation is updated, this policy prevails.

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 Entity Identifiers

1 Entity Identifiers
1.1 Purpose of the BIC
The BIC is an established international standard (ISO 9362). It provides an identifier for
institutions within the financial services industry to facilitate automated processing of
telecommunication messages in banking and related financial transaction environments. SWIFT
is the designated ISO Registration Authority for the BIC. SWIFT publishes BICs in the directory
products. The directory products are further referred to in this document as the Directory.
In the ISO 20022-1 Data Dictionary, a financial institution is defined as an organisation that has
been established primarily to provide financial services.

1.2 Purpose of the BEI

The Business Entity Identifier (BEI) is an extension of the ISO 9362 standard. It provides an
identifier for non financial institutions to facilitate automated processing of telecommunication
messages in banking and related financial transaction environments.
The BIC standard has been reviewed to include the BEI that SWIFT attributes to non financial
institutions. The revised standard is in final approval stage at ISO.
In the ISO 20022-1 Data Dictionary, a non-financial institution is defined as an organisation that
has been established primarily to offer and perform services other than financial services.
The use and format of BIC and BEI are almost equivalent. Therefore, in this document, any
reference to a BIC also applies to a BEI unless a specific distinction is made.

1.3 Structure of the BIC

The 8-character BIC, known as a BIC8, consists of an institution code, a country code, and a
location code. The format and purpose of each code is listed in the following table. The BIC is
always written in upper case.
The rules and naming conventions are:

BIC Format Purpose

Institution code 4 alphabetic 4!a Identifies the institution
characters
Country code 2 alphabetic 2!a Identifies the country or geographical
characters location of the institution
Location code 2 alphanumeric 2!c Identifies either the region or city, or
characters: both, in which the institution is located
• a region code within a country or geographical location
• a suffix code
Branch code 3 alphanumeric [3!c] Optional: represents a branch or a
characters department of geographical, functional,
or departmental nature within the same
country

In addition to BIC8s, users may register 11-character BICs known as BIC11s. The additional 3
characters identify a branch code.
Branch codes belong to the institution identified by the BIC8 and cannot be used to identify a
separate legal entity or a third party. The institution identified by the BIC8 can, for example,
register a branch code to identify a specific location, a branch, a department, a business area or
a service under its responsibility.

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 Entity Identifiers

1.4 SWIFT BIC and Non-SWIFT BIC

If an institution is connected to the SWIFT network, then its BIC is known as a SWIFT BIC. If the
institution is not connected to SWIFT, then its BIC is known as a non-SWIFT BIC.
If an institution wants to register a BIC without connecting to the SWIFT network, it may request
a non-SWIFT BIC.
A non-SWIFT BIC has the digit 1 in the eighth position (for example, GEBKGBL1).

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 BIC Registration

2 BIC Registration
2.1 Rules
Any organisation, including non-SWIFT users, may request a BIC.
Each organisation that becomes a SWIFT user must have and publish at least a BIC8 (financial
institution) or BEI8 (non-financial institution) that identifies the organisation.
It is allocated to one legal entity in a specific country. A legal entity can have multiple BICs or
BEIs (for example, to identify it in another country).
SWIFT assigns the BIC or BEI to the requesting organisation and publishes it in the directory
products. The directory products are further referred to in this document as the Directory.

2.2 Institution Code

The first 4 characters of the BIC (BIC4) identify an organisation, or a group of affiliated
organisations, globally.
SWIFT must approve the requested BIC4.
Requests for generic, confusing or misleading codes such as BANK or GIRO will be rejected.
Once a BIC4 has been allocated to an organisation, SWIFT reserves that code for that
organisation or group of affiliated organisations.
Following a corporate restructuring, it may be necessary to identify and transfer the responsibility
for an existing BIC to a new organisation. To limit the risk of confusion, the use of the transferred
BIC must be limited in time (typically, 12 months) if the BIC4 of the transferred BIC continues to
identify another organisation.

2.3 Country Code

The country code identifies the country or geographical territory in which the organisation is
located. It consists of two alphabetical characters. The country code must reflect the
geographical location of the main place of business of the organisation.
ISO 3166 establishes a universally applicable code for the representation of the names of the
principal administrative divisions of countries and territories. SWIFT publishes the list of ISO
country codes in the Directory.

2.4 Location Code (Region and Suffix Codes)

The location code identifies the region or the city, within a country or geographical territory in
which the organisation is located.
The first digit of the location code is the region code: the digits 0 and 1 are not permitted for the
region code.
A region code has the following purposes:
• to split a country into geographical parts
• to identify major commercial locations within a country
• to represent a time zone within a country
The second digit of the location code is the suffix code. If required, the suffix code enables a
subdivision within a region or city.
• The digit 1 indicates a non-SWIFT BIC.
• The digit 0 indicates a test and training destination. More information on test and training
destinations is available from the SWIFT User Handbook – FIN Service Description.

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 BIC Registration

SWIFT reserves the use of the digit 0 for the suffix code and does not permit the use of the letter
O.

2.5 Branch Code

The branch code is an optional component for all BICs. However, once registered and published
in the Directory as part of a SWIFT user's BIC, its use is highly recommended to expedite
processing in SWIFT messaging. The main use of branch codes is in the internal routing of
messages. The use of a branch code, however, remains optional.
The branch code consists of three alphanumerical characters. The organisation identified by the
BIC8 can for example use a branch code to identify:
• a specific location or a branch of the organisation in the same country
• a department or a business area or a service of the organisation in the same country
The branch code belongs to the organisation that is identified by the BIC8, and cannot be used to
identify another legal entity. For example, a user can use a branch code to refer to services
provided under its responsibility to a client but the branch code cannot serve as an identifier of
the client.
SWIFT does not permit the following uses of branch codes, or of elements within branch codes:
• X is not permitted as the first character
• BIC is not permitted
• A branch code must not denote a geographical location in a country other than that
identified in the BIC8.
SWIFT assigns “XXX” as the default branch code for BIC8s that do not have a registered branch
code.
An organisation may request that a branch code not be published. The use of unpublished
branch codes must be covered by a bilateral agreement between the sender and receiver of
SWIFT messages.

2.6 Additional BICs

In addition to the BIC8, the user may request additional BIC8s in the same country for
operational purposes in the SWIFT environment. Such additional BIC must identify the same
entity. The first six characters (that is, the institution code and the country code) must be identical
to those in the existing BIC.
Additional BIC8s may be unpublished.

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 Directory Publication

3 Directory Publication
3.1 Directory Availability
SWIFT publishes BIC information in the Directory on www.swift.com. The Directory is either
available through file download for update of internal systems in the user environment or through
an online service for queries. SWIFT recommends that customers always refer to the latest
available version of the Directory.
Customers can find the Directory products at www.swift.com > Solutions > Messaging >
Directories. The Directory on swift.com is also accessible through the SWIFTNet service.
Subsets of the Directory are available for specific uses.

3.2 Published Versus Unpublished

Each organisation that becomes a SWIFT user must have and publish at least a BIC8 that
identifies the organisation.
SWIFT automatically publishes all BIC8s and BIC11s unless the user requests non-publication of
one or more specific additional BICs or of a branch code.
An unpublished BIC may only be used on a bilateral basis between the sender and the receiver
of SWIFT messages.
Publication of a BIC includes a description that the user has provided. All non-SWIFT BICs are
published.

3.3 Directory Information

In its role as ISO Registration Authority, SWIFT endeavours to ensure the accuracy of the
content of the Directory. However, SWIFT cannot be held liable for any inaccurate, incomplete,
or misleading information that customers request SWIFT to publish in the Directory.
Customers remain ultimately responsible for the correctness and the completeness of the
information that they ask SWIFT to publish in respect of the BIC that they register. In particular,
customers must ensure that the legal entity responsible for the BIC is properly identified.
Customers must regularly check such information and as applicable, request SWIFT to update or
correct without delay their information or promptly advise SWIFT of any other errors or any
updates.
SWIFT must receive any request to update the Directory before the cut-off dates that are
published in the Directory on www.swift.com.

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 BIC Usage in SWIFT Messaging

4 BIC Usage in SWIFT Messaging

4.1 Network address
The SWIFT BIC identifies the sender or receiver in the header of a FIN message.
SWIFT financial and system messages may only be sent from and received by SWIFT users.
Therefore, a non-SWIFT BIC cannot be included in the header of a SWIFT message.
All SWIFT operations and messaging performed with a BIC8 (or any related additional BIC8 or
BIC11) are the sole responsibility of the user responsible for the BIC8.
In SWIFTNet, each identifier, including the BIC, is defined as a Distinguished Name (DN). The
BIC in the institution level (level 2 DN) identifies the SWIFT user that owns the DN.
The BIC enables the SWIFT user to create subordinate names for digital certificates, and then to
store and administer these certificates. In the same manner as for FIN, the user takes the
responsibility for all messages sent through the BIC.

4.2 Party identifier within messages

The following elements identify an organisation as a transaction party within the text of a FIN
message:
• a BIC or BEI, which can optionally include the branch code
• a name and postal address
• a national code
A non-SWIFT BIC in the text of a message identifies organisations that are not connected to
SWIFT.
Only published BICs may be used in the text of a message. The SWIFT system validates the
accuracy of the code used. There are restrictions on the use of a BEI in some of the party fields
of a SWIFT message.

4.3 Validation of BICs

In support of user authentication, SWIFT stops a FIN message in the following circumstances:
• if there is an unregistered BIC in the message header
• if there is an unregistered or unpublished BIC or BEI in a message text field in which SWIFT
expects a BIC or a BEI.
For more information about usage of BIC in FIN and SWIFTNet and related validation rules; see
the FIN Service Description and the SWIFTNet Service Description.

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 Ordering a BIC

5 Ordering a BIC
Users can find more information about how to request registration, publication, activation,
deletion, and de-activation of a BIC at www.swift.com > Ordering > Order products and services.

5.1 Activating a BIC

To order a new BIC8 and join the SWIFT community, an organisation must be eligible. For
details about the admission procedure and the different categories of SWIFT users, see the
SWIFT Corporate Rules (By-Laws).
SWIFT activates the BIC on the SWIFT network and messaging platform on a Saturday.

5.2 De-activating a BIC

SWIFT de-activates a BIC in the following circumstances:
• at the user's request
• as provided in the SWIFT By-laws, Corporate Rules or other contractual arrangements
applicable to the user.
For de-activation requested by the user, SWIFT de-activates BICs on the first Saturday of the
month. If the user requests de-activation to take place on another date, then the user must
advise the user community of the de-activation of its published BIC by means of a SWIFT
broadcast message.

5.3 Ordering a BIC1

All financial and non-financial institutions that are duly incorporated may order a BIC1.
User may request SWIFT to allocate a BIC1 to identify another organisation to facilitate
automated processing of telecommunication messages in banking and related financial
transaction environments. SWIFT will inform the organisation for which a new BIC1 is allocated.

5.4 Deleting a BIC1

SWIFT deletes a BIC1 in the following circumstances:
• at the user's request
• if the BIC1 remains unused on the SWIFT network over a long period of time
• if the organisation identified by the BIC1 ceases to exist
SWIFT deletes BIC1s on the first Saturday of the month.

5.5 Lead Times

The following updates require a 2-week lead time before implementation:
• a change of institution name or address, or both
• the addition of an unpublished branch code
The following updates require a 1-month lead time before implementation in the next available
update of FIN and publication in the Directory:
• a change to or registration of a branch code
• a change of SWIFT user category
The following update requires a 2-month lead time before implementation in the next available
update of FIN and publication in the Directory:

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 Ordering a BIC

• a change to or registration of a BIC

De-activation of a BIC requires a minimum of 15 business days prior notice. Users can only
request the de-activation of a BIC through SWIFT's online ordering facility.

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 Legal Notices

Legal Notices
Copyright
SWIFT © 2009. All rights reserved.
You may copy this publication within your organisation. Any such copy must include these legal notices.

Confidentiality
This publication contains SWIFT or third-party confidential information. Do not disclose this publication outside your
organisation without the prior written consent of SWIFT.

Disclaimer
The information in this publication may change from time to time. You must always refer to the latest available
version on www.swift.com.

Translations
The English version of SWIFT documentation is the only official and binding version.

Trademarks
SWIFT is the trade name of S.W.I.F.T. SCRL. The following are registered trademarks of SWIFT: SWIFT, the SWIFT
logo, Sibos, SWIFTNet, SWIFTReady, and Accord. Other product, service, or company names in this publication are
trade names, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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