IBAN

The International Bank Account Number is a standardised way of writing a bank account so that payments can be routed across borders without manual checks. It starts with a two-letter country code, two check digits and then a national part that encodes the bank and the account. The length is fixed per country, from 15 characters in Norway to 34 at the maximum allowed by the standard.

The check digits let software detect typing errors before a payment is sent, which is why an IBAN can be validated offline. Within the SEPA area the IBAN alone is enough to make a euro transfer; the BIC is no longer required. On invoices the IBAN is the key payment detail and the basis of the EPC QR code. Kontevia validates the IBAN on received invoices and uses it to match payments on the bank statement.