Bank Identifier Code (BIC) Validations

This section provides Bank Identifier Code (BIC) syntax and semantic specifications that supplement the primary data validation rules.

A BIC is issued by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) and identifies a specific client. It is used for ALERT message addressing and, within messages, for trade party identification. ALERT messages may have as many as eight (8) fields that contain BICs. BICs are subject to both syntax checking and semantic validation.

Note
Always provide BICs using valid BIC syntax.

A BIC is a string of eleven consecutive characters, of which the last three are optional. The syntax is as follows:

XXXXYYZZ[WWW]

where:

  • XXXX is an identifier code for the client. It is a string of four alphabetic characters.
  • YY is the client’s country code. It is a two-letter code from the list specified in ISO-3166.
  • ZZ is the client’s location code. It consists of two alphanumeric characters and indicates the registration authority, as attributed by SWIFT. If the client to whom the BIC is assigned is not active on the SWIFT network, the second character is 1.
  • [WWW] is an optional branch code for the client. It is a string of three alphanumeric characters.

For example, WIDGUS33 is the BIC for a company called Widget. In this BIC:

  • WIDG is the identifier code for DTCC.
  • US (for United States) is the country code.
  • 33 is the location code.

There is no branch code.

ALERT validates BIC syntax at the client level prior to connecting to the ALERT host in order to reduce host overhead and connection time.

DTCC maintains a BIC directory of current BIC data on the ALERT host. ALERT semantically validates a BIC specified in an ALERT message by comparing it with the values in this directory. If the directory contains the specified BIC, it passes validation.

Note
Always provide BICs using valid BIC syntax.