“SWIFT” is an acronym that stands for “Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication”. SWIFT is a global network that processes payments between countries.

“BIC” stands for “Bank Identifier Code” and is a sequence of letters and numbers that are used to send international transfers.

The terms "BIC" and "SWIFT" are often used interchangeably in day-to-day speech about international payments

This depends on the bank. Some banks use the same SWIFT/BIC code for all their branches. Other banks prefer to have a dedicated SWIFT/BIC code for each branch.

A quick way to find out if a SWIFT/BIC code is used by a specific branch is to check the last three characters. If the code ends with “XXX”, you’re looking at the SWIFT/BIC code for the bank’s headquarters. If not, it’s a local branch’s SWIFT/BIC code.

Not sure which SWIFT/BIC code to use for your international money transfer? Search for a bank with our SWIFT/BIC code finder tool.

In the event that you send a payment to the wrong SWIFT/BIC code, the receiving bank will raise an alert saying they don’t manage your recipient's account, and simply reverse the payment.

If you realize you've entered the wrong SWIFT/BIC code, you should also immediately contact your bank and ask them to cancel the transaction.

Qonto’s SWIFT/BIC code checker helps you avoid the annoyance of entering the wrong SWIFT/BIC code when you transfer funds internationally.