IBAN vs account number and BIC

In shortSome accounts come with an IBAN, others with an account number plus a BIC. They're two formats for the exact same job, set by regional convention, and both receive international payments equally well. Neither one is better.

Quick translation of the jargon:

IBAN

  • One standardized code
  • Packs in country, bank, and account
  • The convention across Europe and much of the world
=

Account number + BIC

  • Two parts, same information
  • Account number says which account; BIC (SWIFT code) says which bank
  • The convention where IBANs were never adopted, like the United States

Which one your Ortix account shows just depends on where your account is based. And here's the sentence to remember: neither format is better, faster, or more capable. A sender anywhere in the world can pay either one. They just need to put your details in the matching fields on their bank's form. If their form expects an IBAN and you've got an account number plus BIC, or the other way round, they use the fields for your format rather than squeezing one into the other. That's the whole difference.

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