What is an IBAN and how to find it?

IBAN (international bank account number) – is an internationally accepted format to write your bank account number, and it is used by banks across different countries to identify the sender and receiver of funds. IBANs are widely used in the European Union countries and some other states for making both local and international transfers.

For most of its clients, Paysera provides Lithuanian IBANs, since it is a company licensed by the Bank of Lithuania. A Lithuanian IBAN consists of 20 symbols and looks like this: LT00 3500 0000 0000 0000.

Often the IBAN is written in groups of 4 symbols: LT00 3500 0000 0000 0000, but when entering it online one should not add any spaces deliberately and should write it as one number: LT003500000000000000.

In other countries, IBANs can consist of up to 34 symbols, however, the format will be very similar – it will also have a country code, check digits, bank code, and an account number.

Today around 70 countries use the IBAN format. However, this does not include the USA, African countries, China, etc. These countries mainly use other formats such as SWIFT and BIC.

Writing bank account numbers in the IBAN format started back in 1997. In Lithuania, the bank of Lithuania grants rights to IBAN accounts and only to licensed financial institutions.

All IBANs are unique, there can’t be two identical ones, and they must be written without mistakes to work the way you want. Otherwise, your transfer might reach a completely wrong person or come back to you. Entering the correct IBAN is the client’s responsibility, therefore prior to confirming the transfer make sure to check it several times.

The main part of the IBAN are the last digits, the so-called BBAN. These are the digits of a person’s account number in their bank.

The IBAN is written in different places depending on the bank, however, usually, it is in a visible place that you can see after logging in. For example, in the Paysera app, you will find it at the top of the main app screen. Just don’t forget that your current account IBAN will be different from your Visa card IBAN since these are two separate accounts.

Although IBANs are useful when sending money to other countries, they are no longer necessary for internal transfers within the same bank. For example, Paysera clients can send money to other Paysera users knowing only their email address or phone number that is linked to their account.