What is the IBAN code?

International bank account number

IBAN is an English acronym meaning International Bank Account Number. It is used to identify a bank account internationally.

With the implementation of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), IBAN became a standard for Direct Debit payments and intra-community transfers, allowing financial institutions to easily automate payments between banks within the European Union.

Before the introduction of this standard, international payments in the EU were more complex and required multiple data as account identification systems were national in scope, meaning it was difficult to identify in what country an account had been opened without further information.

Andorra and the implementation of IBAN

The same happened in Andorra. In mid-2003, the Andorran Bank Association (ABA) decided to implement this standard to identify accounts in national financial institutions.

The adoption of this standard for account numbers allows banks to speed up payment processes, prevent errors, manual processing and delays, and therefore avoid unnecessary processing costs.

The format of IBAN

Since each country originally had different bank account systems, the IBAN can vary in length (up to 34 characters) and may contain alphanumeric characters. For example, the IBAN for Spain contains 24 characters, the IBAN for France 27 and the IBAN for Germany 22.

The IBAN code for Andorran banks is comprised of 24 characters:

ADCC EEEE OOOO NNNN NNNN NNNN

• 4 initial characters that indicate the country code (2 digits) + control code (2 digits): ADCC
  Where

AD is the country code for Andorra (ES for Spain and FR for France)

CC is a control code based on the account number

• Account number: 20 characters that identify the account. EEEE OOOO NNNN NNNN NNNN
  Where

EEEE is the financial institution code

OOOO is the branch or subsidiary code

NNNN NNNN NNNN is the account number

IBAN for MoraBanc accounts

Two examples of a full IBAN for a MoraBanc account are given below:

AD71 0004 0039 0001 2345 6014

AD74 0007 0061 0000 1234 5054

In the above example, we can see that there are two financial institution codes, 0004 and 0007. The first code relates to the accounts of MoraBanc S.A.U and the second one to the accounts of MoraBanc Grup S.A, which are both members of MoraBanc.

The 0039 and 0061 codes are used to identify MoraBanc branches (respectively Encamp and Ordino in this example).

The twelve following numbers relate to the MoraBanc account number where:

• The first zeros complement the 20 characters that identify the account number on an international level
• 123456 and 012345 respectively relate to your bank account numbers
• 01 and 05 mean the type of account (respectively current account and savings account)
• And the final 4 in each example is the control digit for your MoraBanc account.

Where can I find my MoraBanc IBAN?

You can find your IBAN on:

• Your account statements and correspondence
• Your chequebook
• Your online bank account
• On the bank ID statement available from any branch.

And remember, when you make a transfer to an Andorran or foreign bank you need the IBAN account code of the person to whom you are making the transfer.

If you want to pay a bill (power, water or gas) by Direct Debit from your MoraBanc account, the utilities company will always ask you to quote your IBAN account code.