IBAN Questions, Answered
Direct, technical, and transparent answers to the most common questions regarding IBAN structure, SEPA payments, and banking privacy.
What is a bank account IBAN?
An IBAN (International Bank Account Number) standardizes every bank account IBAN across national borders to facilitate SEPA and cross-border transactions. It contains a two-letter country code, two check digits, and up to thirty alphanumeric characters representing the domestic account number and routing codes. You can generate one from your local branch codes with our IBAN calculator.
Can I check the account holder's name with an IBAN?
No, this is impossible via any public tool. Due to strict European banking privacy regulations (GDPR) and bank secrecy laws, customer identity registers are not accessible through public APIs. When you use our IBAN checker, the tool validates the mathematical check digits and confirms that the bank code belongs to a licensed institution, but can never reveal the account holder's name or account balance.
What is the difference between BIC and SWIFT?
There is no difference in usage. SWIFT is the financial network organization that administers the standard, while BIC (Business Identifier Code) is the technical name of the 8- or 11-character code format standardized under ISO 9362. You can search any institution's code in our BIC finder.
How are IBAN check digits calculated?
The two check digits in positions 3 and 4 are computed using the Modulo 97 algorithm specified in ISO 7064. The algorithm converts letters to numbers, appends the country code and initial zeros, and calculates the remainder divided by 97 to derive a two-digit checksum.
Are my bank details stored on your server?
No. All calculations, format validations, and bank directory lookups on IBANCalc—including our bulk IBAN checker—execute 100% locally in your browser. No account numbers or IBANs are ever transmitted to or stored on our servers.