What is the IBAN?
The IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is a bank account number structured in accordance with the specifications drafted by the European Committee for Banking Products.
Each bank account at our bank can be converted into an IBAN account.
What is the purpose of the IBAN?
The purpose of the IBAN is to facilitate the automatic processing mainly of cross-border transfers. Using the IBAN ensures the proper transmission of the account number and limits manual intervention during its crediting. At the same time, it improves the quality of customer service and the speed of trade.
(a) The IBAN is communicated to the Beneficiary’s bank.
(b) The Beneficiary sends his/her IBAN to the originator.
(c) The Originator submits a cross-border caliital transfer order, which contains the IBAN of the beneficiary.
(d) The IBAN of the beneficiary checked for correctness by the Originator’s bank and then the order is forwarded to the receiving bank, which receives it and, based on the IBAN, credits it to the beneficiary’s account.
How is the IBAN structured?
The IBAN has a fixed number of characters for each country with a maximum length of 34 alphanumeric characters. Greece has a fixed length of 27 alphanumeric characters of which:
The first two alphabetical characters identify the country in which the account is held (GR for Greece).
The next two alphabetical characters are control digits that confirm the entire IBAN and
The last part is the Basic Account Number (Basic Bank Account Number or BBAN), which includes the Bank, Branch and Account Number of the customer.
In Greece, the main Account Number (BBAN) consists of:
Three (3) digits for the code of the Bank
Four (4) digits for the code of the Branch and
The sixteen (16) digits o account number of the customer. When the digits of a client account are less than 16, then the Bank shall complete this with zeros placed at its beginning.
Example of IBAN
Assume that our bank’s branch in Panepistimiou Street holds an account with number 12345678.
The main account number (BBAN) is: 01600690000000012345678 where:
016 is the code of our bank
0069 is the code of the branch in Homerou Street and
0000000012345678 is the customer’s account number.
How is the IBAN indicated?
The IBAN can be used in electronic and printed form. The printed version is identical to the electronic one with only one difference:
The printed IBAN is written in groups of 4 characters separated by gaps.
Example of Greek IBAN
Basic account number (BBAN)
01101250000000012300695
IBAN in electronic form
GR1601101250000000012300695
IBAN in printed form
GR16 0110 1250 0000 0001 2300 695
