Any person or company with an account at a financial institution in a country that uses the IBAN system.

IBAN Checker for Switzerland: Validate Your IBAN

Q: Can I convert my IBAN into a QR-IBAN?

No, that’s not possible. The QR-IBAN issued by your bank is linked to specific payment methods.

Q: What’s the difference between an IBAN and a BIC?

Swift uses the BIC (Business Identifier Code), an international code, to uniquely identify banks worldwide and and securely and correctly process international credit transfers. Within the SEPA, the IBAN is usually sufficient for bank credit transfers. Outside the SEPA, however, the BIC is required.

Q: How should the IBAN be displayed – with or without spaces?

For readability, the IBAN is usually displayed in blocks of four (e.g., CH93 0076 2011 6238 5295 7), as seen on invoices or account statements. However, for electronic transfers, the IBAN should not contain any spaces or special characters.

Q: What’s the difference between an IBAN and a QR-IBAN?

The QR-IBAN is used exclusively for structured payments with QR-bills. It contains a special identifier (QR-IID) and users are not allowed to use it for other payment types.

Q: Does a credit card have an IBAN?

No, credit cards do not have IBANs. IBANs are only linked to bank accounts.

Q: What’s the difference between an IBAN and a card number?

The IBAN belongs to a bank account, while the card number belongs to a payment card, such as a credit card.

Check an IBAN

Enter an IBAN below to check that the format is correct.

Note: This check does not confirm the actual validity of the IBAN, but only its formal structure, i.e. its length, characters, country code and check digits. For Swiss and Liechtenstein IBANs, the validity of the IID is also verified. More information about the IBAN format

What’s an IBAN?

An IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is a standardized way of representing account numbers internationally. It simplifies, speeds up, and secures cross-border payments. Unlike conventional account numbers, IBANs contain additional information, such as the country, a check digit, the financial institution's identification, and the account number itself. The standardized IBAN format considerably simplifies the recording, forwarding, and processing of payment data.

The IBAN was created by the ECBS (European Committee for Banking Standards) to simplify cross-border payments and has been described by the ISO standard 13616-1 since 2007. Swift administers the IBAN as "Registration Authority."

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Why Do You Need an IBAN?

Today, the IBAN is an essential part of the payment process. It is used for national and international transfers. It has long been the standard in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, not only for traditional bank transfers but also for credit and debit advices, account statements, QR-bills, card products and online banking. Thanks to its standardized structure, the IBAN significantly reduces the error rate in payment transfers, thus reducing time-consuming queries and corrections.

Format of an IBAN in Switzerland and Liechtenstein

In Switzerland and Liechtenstein, the IBAN is 21 digits long. A typical example looks like this:

Definition of values in Switzerland and Liechtenstein

Country code	The two-digit ISO country code for Switzerland is "CH," and for Liechtenstein it is "LI."
Check digit	Validating all the elements
IID (institute identification)	The bank identifier in the IBAN consists of five digits. Three- and four-digit IIDs must be supplemented with leading zeros to form a five-digit number for the IBAN.
Account number	The Swiss IBAN defines the account number as a twelve-digit alphanumeric value.

Swift provides a complete overview of all national IBAN formats. Complete IBAN country list from Swift

Creation and Assignment of an IBAN Structure According to ISO 13616-1 The QR-IBAN

IBANs for customers in Switzerland and Liechtenstein are created and issued exclusively by their account-holding banks. Participation in the SIC system is a prerequisite for financial institutions that wish to issue IBANs for their customer accounts. Participation in the SIC system provides institutions with an IID (a three- to five-digit numeric institution identifier), which is an integral part of an IBAN.

The online tool "Inquiry IID" can easily determine the financial institution that holds an account using its IBAN or QR-IBAN.

The IBAN always begins with a two-digit country code, followed by a two-digit check digit. This is followed by the so-called BBAN (Basic Bank Account Number). The BBAN is a country-specific account number containing a bank identifier, among other things.

The structure of the BBAN determines the overall length of the IBAN, which varies by country and can comprise up to 34 digits and letters. Countries can adapt the structure to their national requirements. For example, they can define the length and position of the bank and account number within the BBAN. However, the position of the ISO country code and check digit, as well as the method used to calculate them (the modulo 97-10 method according to ISO/IEC 7064), remain unchanged.

To match invoices with payments, the QR-bill uses a 27-digit numeric reference, also known as the QR reference. For payments with a structured QR reference, the invoice issuer must specify the QR-IBAN as the credit account. The QR-IBAN corresponds to the formal structure of the Swiss or Liechtenstein IBAN. Financial institutions recognize the payment method with reference by means of a special identification: the QR-IID. Values in the range of 30000-31999 are reserved exclusively for the QR-IID. Each legally independent financial institution that participates in the procedure receives its own QR-IID.

Verifying an IBAN

SIX offers two solutions for mathematically verifying Swiss and Liechtenstein IBANs, as well as QR-IBANs. The verification process checks the length and accuracy of the check digit, as well as the validity of the IID. However, it does not confirm an account relationship or the technical accuracy of an IBAN. Only the account-holding institution can do so.

IBAN Verifier

The online checker is suitable for individual queries to validate an IBAN (technical verification of the IBAN including the validity of the IID)

To the IBAN checker

IBAN Tool

Developers can integrate the IBAN tool into banking and accounting programs. This means that the system will automatically perform a mathematical check when a payment is entered. The IBAN tool is available for download in Windows and Java versions.

Product Discontinuation Notice

As of January 1, 2027, the IBAN Tool (Windows and Java versions) will no longer be available for download. The plausibility check of an IBAN, including the validation of the IID, will continue to be available on this webpage.

Download Documentation

Download Software

- Jun 12, 2026
IBAN Tool for Windows (32 and 64 bits), (Rel. 49.1.1.1) 12.06.2026
- Jun 12, 2026
IBAN Tool for Java, (Rel. 49.1.1.1) 12.06.2026
- Jun 12, 2026
Hash values for version check

Note: The IBAN tool performs a mathematical check only and no longer includes any conversion function (proprietary account number to IBAN).

Frequently Asked Questions About IBAN

Where can I find my IBAN? How should the IBAN be displayed – with or without spaces? Why does my IBAN end with a letter? (Example: CH35 0023 0230 1234 5601 X) Who has an IBAN? Is the IBAN the same as an account number? Why has the account number been replaced by the IBAN?

In the past, account numbers were structured differently from country to country. This often led to misunderstandings, delays, and incorrect international payments. The IBAN solves these problems by providing a globally standardized format that all parties can understand and process. The integrated check digit automatically detects errors before the system executes a payment.

Which IBAN belongs to which bank?

This can be recognized by the IID (institution identification), which is in the fifth position from the left in the IBAN (example: CH9 0076 2011 6238 5295 7). Enter the IID in the online tool "Inquiry IID" to determine the Swiss financial institution that holds the account you are looking for. Note: Omit the leading zeros in the IID in the query (example: 00762 > 762).

What’s the difference between an IBAN and a QR-IBAN? What’s the difference between an IID and a QR-IID?

An IID (Institution Identifier) is used in Switzerland and Liechtenstein to identify financial institutions as participants in the Swiss RTGS/IP systems. Each institution is assigned at least one IID.

The QR-IID is a modification of the IID. Consisting exclusively of numbers from 30000 to 31999, it is used to calculate QR-IBANs. These are only used in the QR-bill procedure with a QR reference.

Can I convert my IBAN into a QR-IBAN? What’s the difference between an IBAN and a card number? Does a credit card have an IBAN? What’s the difference between an IBAN and a BIC?

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IBAN

The IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is the internationally standardized representation of an account number. It was created by the ECBS (European Committee for Banking Standards) to simplify cross-border payments, has been described by the ISO standard ISO 13616-1 since 2007 and is managed by Swift as "Registration Authority". The representation of conventional account numbers in the standardized IBAN format simplifies the recording, transmission and processing of payment data.

IBAN in Switzerland

Since many years, the Swiss financial institutions have been supporting the use of the international standard on credit and debit advices, account statements, payment slips, card products, in direct debit processing or e-banking.