The Bank Identifier Code (BIC)

The Bank Identifier Code (BIC) is a unique identification code for a particular financial institution and is used when transferring money between banks, particularly for international wire transfers. The BIC was created by The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).

The BIC is an 8 character code, defined as ‘business party identifier’, consisting of the business party prefix (4 alphanumeric), the country code as defined in ISO 3166-1 (2 alphabetic), and the business party suffix (2 alphanumeric). The branch identifier is a 3 character optional element that can supplement the 8 character BIC, used to identify specific locations, departments, services or units of the same business party.

If you already have a license with SWIFT to receive the BICs, Alacra can cross-reference or append the BICs to your universe of clients or counterparties.