# What is a BIC / SWIFT code? The parts explained

> The four parts of a Business Identifier Code in SWIFT's BIC policy: institution, country, location and optional branch, and which characters are allowed.

- Canonical URL: https://swiftcodelookup.com/bic-code-structure/
- Source: [SWIFT, BIC policy (20 January 2023)](https://www2.swift.com/knowledgecentre/rest/v1/publications/bic_policy/3.0/bic_policy.pdf)
- Checked: 2026-10-21
- Structured data: https://swiftcodelookup.com/data/bic-code-structure.json

## The parts

SWIFT's BIC policy describes an 8-character code as a **business party identifier**: a 4-character business party prefix, a 2-letter country code and a 2-character business party suffix. An optional 3-character **branch identifier** extends it to 11 characters ([SWIFT](https://www2.swift.com/knowledgecentre/rest/v1/publications/bic_policy/3.0/bic_policy.pdf)).

| Position | Part | Allowed characters |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | Business party prefix (the institution) | Letters |
| 5 to 6 | Country code (ISO 3166-1) | Letters |
| 7 to 8 | Business party suffix (we call it the location in the checker) | Letters or digits |
| 9 to 11 | Branch identifier, optional | Letters or digits |

The allowed characters follow SWIFT's FIN format, written as 4!a 2!a 2!c [3!c] in the policy: letters for the first six characters, letters or digits after that ([SWIFT](https://www2.swift.com/knowledgecentre/rest/v1/publications/bic_policy/3.0/bic_policy.pdf)). The policy uses the word "suffix", not "location code". Many banks and guides say location; both mean positions 7 and 8.

## What a branch identifier means

According to the policy, a branch identifier denotes an organisational unit of the business party in the same country. It generally cannot identify a separate legal entity or a third party ([SWIFT](https://www2.swift.com/knowledgecentre/rest/v1/publications/bic_policy/3.0/bic_policy.pdf)).

## Lower case

The format allows capital letters. The checker accepts lower case and spaces when you paste, and shows the result in capitals.

## Codes of real banks
We do not copy codes from directories. For the big US banks we list only the codes each bank publishes itself, with a link to the page: see [US bank SWIFT codes](https://swiftcodelookup.com/us-bank-swift-codes/). For any other bank, see [where to look a code up](https://swiftcodelookup.com/find-a-swift-code/).

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SWIFT Code Guide · Contact: contact@swiftcodelookup.com