Business Identifier Code (BIC)

Business Identifier Code (BIC) or S.W.I.F.T. code is a unique identification code of a bank or any other participant in financial settlements, which is used when transferring funds from one country to another between banks participating in the BIC / SWIFT system, according to the ISO 9362 standard.
A BIC code is a unique identification code of a bank or any other participant in financial calculations that are assigned to a participant in joining the Society of World Interbank Financial Telecommunications, which is used for international money transfers between banks.

What does BIC code mean?

According to the standard, a Business Identifier Code code is a digital combination of 8 or 11 characters. It consists of letters or a combination of letters and numbers, and looks like:
BBBBCCLLDDD
Each letter group of the code means the following:

1. BBBB is a unique letter code of a bank or financial institution. It always consists of four characters and identifies the participant in the calculations.
2. CC is a two-character alphabetic country code according to the ISO 3166.
3. LL – an alphanumeric code for the location of the bank in the country, consisting of two characters.
4. DDD – bank branch code

SWIFT is an electronic payment providing system that operates between banks in more than 200 countries of the world.
The following currencies are available:

• US dollars
• Russian rubles;
• Swiss francs
• British pounds;
• Euro.