ISO 9362:2022 defines the Business Identifier Code used to identify organisations in financial messaging. A BIC provides a reference for addressing parties, routing information and matching directories, distinguishing the business identity from free-text names and account numbers.
TL;DR:
- ISO 9362:2022 defines the business identifier code, or BIC.
- BICs identify organisations and support addressing and transaction routing.
- The scope includes financial and non-financial institutions, excluding individuals.
Summary
Identifier structure
ISO 9362:2022 specifies the elements and structure of the business identifier code. It is a universal organisational identifier for financial and non-financial institutions needing identification in financial-services information processing.
Operational uses
The public abstract identifies message addressing, business-transaction routing and identification of business parties as uses of the BIC. Those uses distinguish an organisation code from an individual bank-account number.
Entity boundary
The scope applies to organisations and excludes individual persons. A BIC therefore is not a personal-customer identifier, and possession of a code alone does not establish a particular account relationship or payment-service permission.
Edition and administration
ISO lists edition 5, published in April 2022, with maintenance-agency or registration-authority support. The standard defines the identifier; current directory information and the relevant network arrangements determine how a particular code is used in an implementation.
Keywords
- BIC
- Business Identifiers
- Financial Institutions
- Organisation Codes
- Message Addressing
- Transaction Routing
- Party Identification
- Automated Processing
- Reference Data
- Registration Authority