IBAN examples by country reveal how much the format shifts across borders: a German IBAN runs exactly 22 characters (DE75 5121 0800 1245 1261 99), a French one stretches to 27 (FR76 3000 6000 0112 3456 7890 189), and a Norwegian one fits in just 15. Every International Bank Account Number begins the same way — two letters for the country, two check digits — but what follows is set by each national banking system, so length and internal layout change from one country to the next. More than 97 countries use the system, and an IBAN can run up to 32 characters in total.
The Shared Structure Behind Every IBAN
No matter which country issued it, an IBAN opens with four fixed characters. The first two are an ISO country code (DE for Germany, GB for the United Kingdom, NO for Norway). The next two are check digits produced by the MOD-97 algorithm, which lets a computer confirm the number is internally consistent before a bank even attempts to route a transfer.
Everything after those four characters is the Basic Bank Account Number, or BBAN. The BBAN carries the domestic bank code, the branch identifier where one exists, and the customer’s account number. ISO 13616 fixes the total length for each country but deliberately leaves the internal arrangement of the BBAN to national banking authorities.1International Organization for Standardization. ISO 13616-1 – Financial Services International Bank Account Number (IBAN) Part 1 Structure of the IBAN That design choice is why a German IBAN is always 22 characters and a French one always 27: each country’s banking infrastructure already had its own account numbering conventions when IBAN was adopted, and the standard wrapped around them rather than replacing them.
IBAN Examples by Country
Seeing real formats side by side makes the pattern click faster than any description. The numbers below are specimen IBANs published for illustration, grouped in the conventional four-character blocks that banks use to make the string easier to read and type.
- Germany (22 characters): DE75 5121 0800 1245 1261 99
- United Kingdom (22 characters): GB26 MIDL 4005 1512 3456 74
- France (27 characters): FR76 3000 6000 0112 3456 7890 189
- Norway (15 characters): NO83 3000 1234 567
- Netherlands (18 characters): NL02 ABNA 0123 4567 89
- Spain (24 characters): ES79 2100 0813 6101 2345 6789
- Saudi Arabia (24 characters): SA44 2000 0001 2345 6789 1234
- Brazil (29 characters): BR15 0000 0000 0000 1093 2840 814P 2
A few patterns are worth noticing. Some IBANs contain only digits after the opening four characters (Germany, Norway, Spain, Saudi Arabia). Others mix in letters: the “MIDL” in the UK example identifies the issuing bank (HSBC’s old Midland code), “ABNA” in the Dutch example identifies ABN AMRO, and the trailing “P” in the Brazilian example is a single-character account type indicator. The length differences are not arbitrary.2IBAN.com. IBAN Examples, Structure and Length
What Each Segment Means: A German Example
Taking DE75 5121 0800 1245 1261 99 apart segment by segment shows how a BBAN is constructed:
- DE — the ISO country code for Germany.
- 75 — the two check digits generated by the MOD-97 formula.
- 5121 0800 — the eight-digit Bankleitzahl, Germany’s domestic bank sort code, which identifies both the bank and the specific branch.
- 1245 1261 99 — the ten-digit customer account number.
Every German IBAN follows this exact template, which is why they all land at 22 characters.3Deutsche Bundesbank. IBAN Rules Other countries slot in different components. France has to accommodate a five-digit bank code, a five-digit branch code, an eleven-character account number, and a two-digit national check key, which is why its total runs to 27.
IBAN Beyond Europe
IBAN is often assumed to be a European-only system, but adoption reaches well past the continent. Countries in the Middle East, North Africa, the Caribbean, and parts of Latin America and South Asia use it for incoming international transfers and sometimes domestic ones. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, Brazil, and Costa Rica are all on the list.4IBAN.com. IBAN Mandatory for International and Domestic Payments The format rules are the same (country code, check digits, BBAN), and the lengths follow the same per-country fixed structure.
Countries That Do Not Issue IBANs
The most notable holdout is the United States. American banks do not issue IBANs at all. If you bank in the US and a foreign payee asks for your IBAN, you don’t have one to give. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, and most of Southeast Asia also sit outside the system. Transfers to and from these countries rely on a SWIFT/BIC code combined with the local account number (and in some countries an additional domestic identifier such as a US ABA routing number).
This mismatch is a frequent source of confusion. If a payment form abroad shows a mandatory IBAN field for a US recipient, the sender usually needs to switch from a SEPA-style payment form to an international wire form where SWIFT code and account number are the required fields instead. Calling your bank for the exact details a foreign sender needs is faster than guessing.5U.S. Bank. How Do I Receive a Wire Transfer
Where to Find Your Own IBAN
If your country uses the system, your bank has already assigned you an IBAN; you don’t apply for one. The quickest place to find it is your online banking portal. Log in, open your account details or summary page, and look for a field labeled “IBAN.” Mobile banking apps display it in the same area, often under a tab for international or transfer details.
Paper bank statements typically print the full IBAN alongside the domestic account number. In some countries it also appears on the back of a debit card, though that is less common. If none of these channels work, your bank’s customer service line can read it to you or send it by secure message.
Checking Whether an IBAN Is Valid
Before you rely on an IBAN someone has given you, you can verify that it is at least correctly formatted. The MOD-97 check digit algorithm built into every IBAN makes this possible without contacting any bank. The process: move the first four characters (country code and check digits) to the end of the string, convert each letter to a number using A = 10 through Z = 35, then divide the resulting large number by 97. A remainder of exactly 1 means the IBAN is structurally valid. Any other remainder means something is wrong — a mistyped digit, a transposed letter, or a missing character.
You don’t need to do the math by hand. Free online IBAN validation tools check the format, length, check digits, and country-specific internal structure in seconds.6IBAN.com. IBAN Checker International Bank Account Number Validation A passing validation confirms the number is plausible and well-formed. It does not confirm that the account belongs to the person you intend to pay, which is a separate check you should make with the recipient directly before sending any significant amount.