SIST ISO 9362:2020

• Abstract:

  ISO 9362:2014 specifies the elements and structure of a universal identifier code, the business identifier code (BIC), for financial and non-financial institutions, for which such an international identifier is required to facilitate automated processing of information for financial services. ; The BIC is used for addressing messages, routing business transactions and identifying business parties. ; This International Standard applies to organizations and excludes individual persons.

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 09-Jan-2020
• ICS: 03.060 - Finances. Banking. Monetary systems. Insurance
• Technical Committee: I15 - Board tech
• Current Stage: 6060 - National Implementation/Publication (Adopted Project)
• Start Date: 08-Jan-2020
• Due Date: 14-Mar-2020
• Completion Date: 10-Jan-2020
• Ref Project: ISO 9362:2014 - Banking — Banking telecommunication messages — Business identifier code (BIC)

• Replaces: SIST ISO 9362:1995 - Banking -- Banking telecommunication messages -- Bank identifier codes
• Effective Date: 01-Feb-2020

Overview

SIST ISO 9362:2020 (equivalent to ISO 9362:2014) defines the universal structure and elements of the Business Identifier Code (BIC), a critical standard for banking telecommunication messages. The BIC provides a universally recognized identifier for financial and non-financial institutions, facilitating the accurate routing of financial messages, transactions, and the identification of business parties in a global context. By adopting the BIC, organizations can ensure interoperability, efficiency, and reliability within international financial services and related communication environments.

Key Topics

• Business Identifier Code (BIC): A unique, standardized identifier assigned to institutions involved in financial or related activities. BICs enable organizations to participate in secure, automated message exchanges.
• Structure and Elements: The BIC consists of 8 or 11 alphanumeric characters, structured to represent the institution, country, and (optionally) a branch or organizational unit.
  • Party prefix: Four characters identifying the institution
  • Country code: Two-letter code based on ISO 3166-1
  • Party suffix: Two characters further specifying the institution
  • Branch identifier: Optional three-character code for location or department
• Applications: The BIC is used for
  • Addressing financial messages
  • Routing business transactions
  • Identifying parties in financial networks
• Registration and Directory: The standard assigns responsibility for accurate BIC data record management to the registering organization. An international directory of BICs is maintained and made publicly accessible, ensuring transparency and data integrity.

Applications

SIST ISO 9362:2020 is central to the operations of institutions participating in global financial networks and payment systems. Its practical applications include:

• Global Payments: Facilitating the accurate and efficient transmission of international payments and financial transactions across borders by using BICs to identify senders and recipients.
• Message Routing: Ensuring automated banking and financial messages (e.g., SWIFT messages) reach the correct organization or branch, thereby reducing errors and enhancing speed.
• Business Party Identification: Supporting financial compliance, auditing, and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes by providing a reliable method for identifying business entities.
• Non-Financial Applications: Extending reliable identification and communication capabilities to non-bank organizations engaged in financial transactions or services, such as insurance companies, trading firms, and other regulated institutions.

The use of BICs supports regulatory compliance, risk mitigation, and operational efficiency for organizations engaged in financial services worldwide.

Related Standards

Organizations implementing SIST ISO 9362:2020 should also consider the following related standards:

• ISO 3166-1: Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes. Essential for the country code component of the BIC.
• SIST ISO 20022: Financial services – Universal financial industry message scheme. Standardizes financial messaging formatting, often used in conjunction with BICs for secure communications.
• SIST ISO 4217: Codes for the representation of currencies and funds. Useful for standardizing currency data in financial transactions alongside BIC-based identification.

Organizations in the banking, finance, insurance, and related sectors benefit significantly from adopting SIST ISO 9362:2020, ensuring compatibility with international systems, reducing operational risk, and enabling faster, secure, and accurate financial communications.

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-februar-2020
Nadomešča:
SIST ISO 9362:1995
Bančništvo - Bančna telekomunikacijska sporočila - Bančne identifikacijske kode
(BIC)
Banking -- Banking telecommunication messages - Business identifier code (BIC)
Banque -- Messages bancaires télétransmis -- Code d'identification des entreprises
(BIC)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: ISO 9362:2014
ICS:
03.060 Finance. Bančništvo. Finances. Banking. Monetary
Monetarni sistemi. systems. Insurance
Zavarovanje
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 9362
Fourth edition
2014-12-01
Banking — Banking
telecommunication messages —
Business identifier code (BIC)
Banque — Messages bancaires télétransmis — Code d’identification
des entreprises (BIC)
Reference number
©
ISO 2014
© ISO 2014
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on the internet or an intranet, without prior
written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of
the requester.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56 • CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
E-mail [e-mail]
Web www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2014 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Conventions . 2
5 BIC structure . 2
5.1 Format of the BIC . 2
5.2 Element description . 3
5.3 BIC examples. 3
6 BIC data record . 3
7 Responsibilities . 4
8 International directory of BICs . 4
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity
assessment, as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the WTO principles in the Technical Barriers
to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: Foreword - Supplementary information
The committee responsible for this document is ISO/TC 68, Financial Services, Subcommittee SC 7,
Core Banking.
This fourth edition cancels and replaces the third edition (ISO 9362:2009), which has been
technically revised.
iv © ISO 2014 – All rights reserved

Introduction
This International Standard specifies a universal method of identifying institutions within the financial
services industry, in order to facilitate automated processing of telecommunication messages in banking
and related financial transaction environments.
The original scope of this International Standard was limited to the identification of banks; consequently,
the acronym “BIC” was used as an abbreviation for “bank identifier code”. The scope of this International
Standard has since been extended, in the first place to cover all types of financial institutions, and in the
2009 edition of this International Standard, to cover non-financial institutions as well.
This new edition will take into account recent market evolution and address the need to ensure the
standard is neutral and agnostic from any network.
In order to avoid unnecessary costs that would have resulted from abandoning a well-known and widely-
used acronym, the acronym “BIC” has been retained for the purposes of this International Standard, but
is now used as an abbreviation for “business identifier code”.
The implementation of this International Standard will be completed by the Registration Authority (RA)
by the end of January 2015. To mitigate for the operational impacts on the users of this International
Standard, the RA will exceptionally continue to respect the BIC1 convention (as defined in ISO 9362:2009)
for SWIFTNet FIN connectivity as part of this International Standard Registration Procedures during a
transition period that will end in November 2018.
...

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 9362
Fourth edition
2014-12-01
Banking — Banking
telecommunication messages —
Business identifier code (BIC)
Banque — Messages bancaires télétransmis — Code d’identification
des entreprises (BIC)
Reference number
©
ISO 2014
© ISO 2014
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on the internet or an intranet, without prior
written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of
the requester.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56 • CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
E-mail [e-mail]
Web www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2014 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Conventions . 2
5 BIC structure . 2
5.1 Format of the BIC . 2
5.2 Element description . 3
5.3 BIC examples. 3
6 BIC data record . 3
7 Responsibilities . 4
8 International directory of BICs . 4
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity
assessment, as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the WTO principles in the Technical Barriers
to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: Foreword - Supplementary information
The committee responsible for this document is ISO/TC 68, Financial Services, Subcommittee SC 7,
Core Banking.
This fourth edition cancels and replaces the third edition (ISO 9362:2009), which has been
technically revised.
iv © ISO 2014 – All rights reserved

Introduction
This International Standard specifies a universal method of identifying institutions within the financial
services industry, in order to facilitate automated processing of telecommunication messages in banking
and related financial transaction environments.
The original scope of this International Standard was limited to the identification of banks; consequently,
the acronym “BIC” was used as an abbreviation for “bank identifier code”. The scope of this International
Standard has since been extended, in the first place to cover all types of financial institutions, and in the
2009 edition of this International Standard, to cover non-financial institutions as well.
This new edition will take into account recent market evolution and address the need to ensure the
standard is neutral and agnostic from any network.
In order to avoid unnecessary costs that would have resulted from abandoning a well-known and widely-
used acronym, the acronym “BIC” has been retained for the purposes of this International Standard, but
is now used as an abbreviation for “business identifier code”.
The implementation of this International Standard will be completed by the Registration Authority (RA)
by the end of January 2015. To mitigate for the operational impacts on the users of this International
Standard, the RA will exceptionally continue to respect the BIC1 convention (as defined in ISO 9362:2009)
for SWIFTNet FIN connectivity as part of this International Standard Registration Procedures during a
transition period that will end in November 2018.
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 9362:2014(E)
Banking — Banking telecommunication messages —
Business identifier code (BIC)
1 Scope
This International Standard specifies the elements and structure of a universal identifier code, the
business identifier code (BIC), for financial and non-financial institutions, for which such an international
identif
...