Glossary · UK
What is SWIFT/BIC Code?
An international code identifying a specific bank, used alongside an IBAN to route payments sent to or from overseas accounts.
Full Definition
A SWIFT code, also called a BIC (Bank Identifier Code), is an 8- or 11-character code that uniquely identifies a specific bank (and often a specific branch) worldwide, used to route international wire transfers correctly between banks that are not both part of the same domestic clearing system such as BACS or Faster Payments. The code is built from a standard structure: four letters for the bank, two for the country, two for the location, and an optional three-digit branch code, so a UK bank's SWIFT/BIC code always ends in "GB" wherever in the world the payment is coming from. When sending money abroad, or receiving money from overseas into a UK account, a bank typically needs both the recipient's SWIFT/BIC code (identifying the bank) and their IBAN (identifying the specific account), and getting either wrong can delay a transfer by days or, in the worst case, send funds to the wrong account. International transfers routed via SWIFT are generally slower and more expensive than domestic UK transfers, often taking one to five working days and incurring fees from the sending bank, any correspondent banks the payment passes through, and sometimes the receiving bank too, which is why many people now use dedicated currency transfer specialists for regular or large international payments instead of their everyday bank.