international bank account number (IBAN)
The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is an internationally recognized bank account number used for cross-border money transfers. The International Bank Account Number is an identifier consisting of alphanumeric characters for online banking and individual transfers. The length of the IBAN varies from country to country. In Germany , the total length is always 22 characters.
The IBAN always starts with two alphanumeric characters, the country code, for the country identification. This country code was defined by the International Standards Organization( ISO).
For Germany, these are the letters DE. The country code is followed by a two- digit check digit with which the checksum for the national account number is transmitted. This is followed by the eight-digit bank code and the account number, which is always entered with ten digits. Missing digits are filled with zeros from the left. The structure of the IBAN, which has a maximum length of 34 fields, was defined by the ISO under ISO 13616, in which a mandatory notation is prescribed, without special characters, hyphens and spaces.
For international money transfers, a combination of IBAN and the Bank Identifier Code( BIC) is still required in addition to the IBAN, but only until 2014, after which the Single Euro Payments Area( SEPA) will be mandatory throughout Europe and the Bank Identifier Code will no longer be required. The IBAN is calculated and assigned by the account-holding bank and printed on the account statement.