All about Swift Codes
H is a detailed discussion about swift codes in the swift community forum:
29 May 2009 by Priyanka Bindu Madhavan
Implementation of Checks for NON-SWIFT BICs, CIVICs
hello All, SWIFT has defined some validations rules like 1. T45: Invalid NON-SWIFT BIC How does one have the list of NON-SWIFT BICs supported by SWIFT? Is this Information present in the BICPLUSIBAN Directory released by SWIFT? 2. T29: Invalid SWIFT Branch codes How does one obtain the list of Invalid and Valid Branch codes Supported by SWIFT. Is this Information present in the BICPLUSIBAN Directory released by SWIFT 3. How can one understand whether a particular BIC present in the Party field is having a Valid destination or not. Is this Information present in the BICPLUSIBAN Directory released by SWIFT I would be grateful for your reply. Thanks and Regards Priyanka
04 Jun 2009 by Reinhard Lehmann
Dear Priyanka, there is NO simple way of finding out the existence or validity of a BIC etc. – because: a) there are too many unpublished BICs, where SWIFT does not even tell you, if they exist, even when you ask b) all kinds of directories are outdated, compared with the main directory, maintained by SWIFT – outdated by hours, days, weeks, months – so you would, even if you know all unpublished BICs never be on the same information level as SWIFT. Solution: a) (unreliable) use BIC-Search on SWIFT.com – although this information may be incomplete b) (reliable): send a message – e.g. MT-202 to yourself and fill the BIC in question into Field 57A – – if SWIFT ACKs the message, the BIC is OK, – otherwise, you will get T29, T45 etc. It is irritating, that SWIFT refuses to give us the information about a BIC existence through the phone, justifying it with data-privacy and on the other hand you will get the information immediatelly by sending a FIN Msg (which of course you will have to pay for). best regards, Reinhard
01 Jun 2009 by Sunil BhardwajHi Priyanka, SWIFT and non-SWIFT BICs can be distinguished by refering to the character at 8th position. Non-SWIFT BICs contain “1” in its 8th position. Non-SWIFT BICs can be present in the Party fields. This helps structured representation of a Party, helpful for automation. The last three characters in a 11-BIC structure represent the Branch code. Both the above contents are available in BIC directory and can be used as reference data for validation. Cordially, Sunil