Sort code

Sort codes are the domestic bank codes used to route money transfers between financial institutions in the United Kingdom, and historically in the Republic of Ireland. They are six-digit hierarchical numerical addresses that specify clearing banks, clearing systems, regions, large financial institutions, groups of financial institutions and ultimately resolve to individual branches. In the UK they continue to be used to route transactions domestically within clearance organisations and to identify accounts, while in the Republic of Ireland (a founder member of the Euro) they have been deprecated and replaced by the SEPA systems and infrastructure.

Sort codes for Northern Ireland branches of banks (codes beginning with a '9') were registered with the Irish Payment Services Organisation (IPSO) for both Northern Ireland and the Republic. These codes are used in the British clearing system and historically in the Irish system.

The sort code is usually formatted as three pairs of numbers, for example 12-34-56. It identifies both the bank (in the first digit or the first two digits) and the branch where the account is held.[1] Sort codes are encoded into IBANs but are not encoded into BICs.

History

Codes began to be used in the early 20th century to facilitate the manual processing of cheques. Known as a 'national code', these had between three and five digits.

The eleven London clearing banks were each allocated a main number, with the "big five" (and the Bank of England) allocated single-digit numbers alphabetically. Lloyds Bank, for example, was allocated 3 and National Provincial was allocated 5. The remaining single digit codes were used to indicate that a cheque was from outside the London clearing system. The smaller clearing banks were allocated two-digit numbers, for example Martins was allocated 11.

The bank branches were allocated further digits by their bank to make up the entire number; some banks represented these on cheques in smaller type. Main clearing branches (usually major London branches) would have only one digit after the main number, e.g. 111. Metropolitan branches (which covered Greater London) had two digits after the main number, e.g. 1124. Country branches made up the rest of the country, and used three or more digits after the main number, e.g. 11056.[2] They were displayed on cheques in this fashion, with the bank identifier taking precedence.

Six-digit "sorting codes" were introduced in a staggered process from 1957 as the banking industry moved towards automation. The national codes were retained but where a single digit was used to identify the bank a two-digit range was introduced. So, for example, Barclays codes went from starting with a 2 to 20, Midland from 4 to 40, etc.

Clearing bank code allocations
Code	Bank
1	Bank of England
2	Barclays Bank
3	Lloyds Bank
4	Midland Bank
5	National Provincial
6	Westminster Bank
7	Walks
8	Scottish clearing
9	Irish clearing
11	Martins Bank
15	Glyn, Mills & Co.
16	Williams Deacon's Bank
17	National Bank
18	Coutts & Co.

List of sort codes of the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the initial digits of bank sort codes were originally allocated to settlement members of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company and the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Company. Today, sort codes are issued to any organisation that will be a direct member of a UK electronic payment network (in addition to the cheque clearing systems, this includes BACS, Faster Payments and CHAPS). Non-standard sort codes are issued to payment service providers who need an IBAN, for example for SEPA, as the sort code forms part of this.

The allocation of sort codes is managed by BACS. These numbers are six digits long, formatted into three pairs which are separated by hyphens.

Cheque clearing

The cheque clearing system in the United Kingdom is managed by Pay.UK, following the merger of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company, BACS and Faster Payments Ltd in 2018. Since August 2019, sterling cheque clearing has been through the Image Clearing System.

England & Wales

In the following list the dates in parentheses give the year of merger with the present-day sort code holder, or its subsidiary.

Range	Bank	Note
`00`	For IBAN use only[3]
`01`	National Westminster Bank	Formerly District Bank (1962)
`04`	"Utility bank"	Issued to new participants in the BACS, CHAPS and Faster Payments schemes; not usable for cheques[3]
`04-00-02`	BFC Bank
`04-00-03` to `04-00-06`	Monzo
`04-00-11`	Satabank
`04-00-26`	N26
`04-00-40`	Starling Bank
`04-00-72` to `04-04-74`	Modulr
`04-00-75`	Revolut
`04-00-76`	LCH Limited
`04-00-78`	Elavon Financial Services
`04-00-79` to `04-00-80`	Virgin Money Head Office
`04-03-00` to `04-03-29`	LHV Pank
`04-04-05`	ClearBank
`04-04-76` to `04-04-77`	Enumis
`04-05-40` to `04-05-41`	BCB Group
`04-13-01`	Midpoint & Transfer
`04-13-02` to `04-13-03`	Bilderlings Pay
`04-13-04` to `04-13-05`	Ecology Building Society
`04-13-06`	Allpay Limited
`04-13-07` to `04-13-08`	Clear Junction
`04-13-12`	Modulr
`04-13-13` to `04-13-14`	Project Imagine
`04-13-15` to `04-13-16`	Universal Securities & Investment
`04-13-17` to `04-13-19`	Contis Financial Services
`04-13-42`	Duesday
`05`	Clydesdale Bank	Trading as Yorkshire Bank
`07-00` to `07-49`	Nationwide Building Society
`08`	The Co-operative Bank
`08-60` to `08-61`		For building societies `08-60-64` for Virgin Money
`08-90` to `08-99`
`08-30` to `08-39`	Citibank	`08-31` to `08-32` for UK Government banking (NS&I, HMRC etc.)
`09-00` to `09-19`	Santander UK	Formerly Abbey National (2010)
`09-00` to `09-19`	Santander UK	`09-01-31` to `09-01-36` for `09-01-39` to `09-01-49` for Alliance & Leicester `09-01-51` to `09-01-56` migrated accounts
`10-00` to `10-79`	Bank of England	Previously used for government banking and BoE employee accounts[4]
`11`	Bank of Scotland	For Halifax (since 1990), earlier used by Martins Bank (1962-1969)
`12-00` to `12-69`	Bank of Scotland	For Sainsbury's Bank
`13`	Barclays Bank
`14`	Barclays Bank
`15`	The Royal Bank of Scotland	Formerly Williams & Glyn's Bank (1985), itself formerly Glyn, Mills & Co (1970)
`15-80`		For Child & Co. private bank, part of The Royal Bank of Scotland (1923)
`15-98` to `15-99`		For C. Hoare & Co, independent private bank
`16`	The Royal Bank of Scotland	Formerly Williams & Glyn's Bank (1985), itself formerly Williams Deacon's Bank (1970) `16-00-38` for Drummonds Bank, part of The Royal Bank of Scotland `16-52-21` for the Cumberland Building Society `16-57-10` for Cater Allen Private Bank, part of Santander Group
`17`		Formerly Williams & Glyn's Bank (1985), itself formerly The National Bank (1970)
`18`		For Coutts & Co, a subsidiary of National Westminster Bank (1920)
`19`
`20` to `29`	Barclays Bank	`20-11-47` for HMRC `23-00-88` for VFX Financial `23-05-80` for Metro Bank `23-14-70` for TransferWise `23-22-21` for Fire Financial Services `23-32-72` for Pockit `23-69-72` for Prepay Technologies `23-73-24` for Loot Financial Services
`30` to `39`	Lloyds Bank and TSB	Formerly Lloyds TSB (2013) and earlier for Lloyds Bank (1995) `30-00-66`for Arbuthnot Latham Private Bank `30-00-83`for Al Rayan Bank `30-02-48`for FinecoBank UK
`40` to `49`	HSBC Bank	Formerly Midland Bank (1992) `49-99-79` to `49-99-99` for Deutsche Bank `40-12-50` to `40-12-55` for M&S Bank `40-47-58` to `40-47-87` for First Direct `40-51-78` for Jyske Bank Gibraltar `40-51-98` for Turkish Bank UK `40-60-80` for CashFlows `40-63-01` for the Coventry Building Society `40-63-77` for Cynergy Bank Limited `40-64-25` for Virgin Money `40-64-37` for Marcus
`50` to `59`	National Westminster Bank	Formerly National Provincial Bank (1968)
`60` to `66`	National Westminster Bank	Formerly Westminster Bank (1968) `60-83-12` for Atom Bank `60-83-14` for Gibraltar International Bank `60-83-66` for Fidor Bank UK `60-83-71` for Starling Bank
`70`	Used by various international banks for their UK business: no longer issued.[3]	Banks including the Bank of Baroda, the National Bank of Pakistan as well as Close Brothers Group and Bank Hapoalim
`71`	Bank of England	National Savings Bank
`72`[lower-alpha 1]	Santander UK	Formerly Alliance & Leicester (2010), itself formerly Girobank (1985)
`77-00` to `77-44`	Lloyds Bank and TSB	Formerly Lloyds TSB (2013) and earlier for Trustee Savings Bank (1995)
`77-46` to `77-99`	Lloyds Bank and TSB

Being phased out

Scotland

Separately operated by the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers until 1985.

Range	Bank	Note
`80` to `81`	Bank of Scotland
`82`	Clydesdale Bank
`83`	The Royal Bank of Scotland	formerly National Commercial Bank of Scotland (1969), formerly Commercial Bank of Scotland (1959)
`84`		formerly National Commercial Bank of Scotland (1969), formerly National Bank of Scotland (1959)
`86`
`87`	TSB	formerly Lloyds TSB Scotland (2013) formerly TSB Scotland (1995)
`89-00` to `89-29`	Santander UK	formerly Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank (2010) formerly Girobank (2003)

Northern Ireland

The clearing system in Northern Ireland was operated under the Belfast Clearing Rules which were agreed by the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Company (formerly the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Committee), until the introduction of the Image Clearing System managed by Pay.UK which was completed in August 2019.[5] Sort codes in the 90 range are managed by the Irish Payment Services Organisation (IPSO).

Range	Bank	Note
`90`	Bank of Ireland
`91`	Northern Bank	trading as Danske Bank since 2012 formerly Belfast Bank (1970)
`93`	Allied Irish Banks (UK)	for AIB (Northern Ireland) formerly First Trust Bank formerly TSB Northern Ireland (1991)
`94`	Bank of Ireland
`95`	Northern Bank	trading as Danske Bank since 2012 former Midland Bank subsidiary (1965)
`98`	Ulster Bank	subsidiary of National Westminster Bank (1917)

Sort codes of the Republic of Ireland

Sort codes are no longer directly used in the Republic of Ireland, although they still form part of the underlying structure of account numbers. As a part of the Eurozone, all aspects of the SEPA system are fully implemented and adhered to. This means that all domestic transactions, including Direct Debit and interbank transfers are processed using an IBAN through the SEPA system. The Irish electronic clearing systems, including those run by the Irish Retail Electronic Payments Clearing Company Ltd, which entered voluntary liquidation in late 2014, have been retired and replaced by SEPA. Domestic cheques continue to be processed by the Irish Paper Clearing Company CLG.[6]

Historically, the Irish banking system shared the sort code structure used in the UK, but operated as a separate system since the Irish pound broke the link with sterling in March 1979. Codes are issued by the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI)[7] which replaced IPSO in 2014.[8]

The full list of sort codes used in Ireland is as follows:

Note: A large number of lower volume users and smaller banks share the 99 XX XX code and there are at least three users of the 93 XX XX codes assigned primarily to AIB.

Range	Bank	Note
`90`	Bank of Ireland
`92`	Central Bank of Ireland
`93`	AIB Bank	`93-09-03` for JP Morgan Bank Ireland plc `93-90-21` for EBS d.a.c.
`95`	Danske Bank (Ireland)	trading as Danske Bank
`98`	Ulster Bank Ireland dac
`99`	`99-00-51` to `99-00-52` Citibank Europe plc `99-00-61` to `99-00-62` Bank of America `99-03-01` An Post `99-11-99` Fire Financial Services `99-99-01` Central Bank of Ireland for the Paymaster General of Ireland Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) Realex Financial Services	99 is used by a large number of financial institutions, particular those with smaller branch networks or a single branch.
`99-02`	BNP Paribas Ireland	`99-02-04` for The Royal Bank of Scotland `99-02-12` for Barclays Bank Ireland `99-03-20` for Aareal Bank `99-03-25` for CACEIS Bank `99-02-31` for HSBC Bank `99-02-40` for ING Bank `99-02-60` for Rabobank International `99-02-70` for KBC Bank Ireland
`99-04`	Bank of Scotland
`99-06` to `99-07`	Permanent TSB
`99-10`	BNP Paribas Ireland for Irish Credit Unions
`99-21` to `99-22`	Irish Credit Unions

Irish bank account numbers are now presented in the IBAN format as follows:

IE97 BANK 9799 9912 3456 78

This corresponds to the fictitious sort code: 97-99-99 and account: 12345678, prefixed by ISO Country code: IE, IBAN check digits 97 and Bank Identifier: BANK

Sort codes in the 70 range – "walks"

Numbers starting with a '7' (after the 1960s, '70') were reserved for the large number of London offices of banks which were not members of the London Clearing. Individual sort codes were allocated on a one-off basis to the many London offices of private and foreign banks. Cheques drawn on these banks were colloquially known within the banking industry as 'walks'[9] because they were cleared by being hand-delivered ("walked") to the drawee banks by messengers from the Clearing House.[9] By the 1990s, all these banks had been issued with sort codes within the ranges of the various clearing banks which, from then on, acted as clearing agents for them. The practice of "walking" cheques was ended and use of the 70 code range was discontinued.

International clearance

Within the Eurozone, only IBAN numbers are required. Transfers to and from the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia and any other countries outside the Eurozone continue to use international networks and require a combination of IBAN (or a domestic account and sorting/routing code) alongside a BIC code to identify the institution sending and receiving payments. Characters 9 to 14 of British and Irish IBANs hold the bank account sort code.[10]

In some countries there is no direct equivalent of sort codes as the bank and branch codes are maintained separately from each other in those countries.[10] Other countries, however, have or had codes which are equivalent to sort codes, but with formats unique to the country concerned. Examples include:

Germany/Austria: Bankleitzahl (BLZ) – superseded by and incorporated into the IBAN as part of SEPA standardization
Switzerland: Bankenclearing-Nummer (BC-Nummer)
Australia: Bank-State-Branch (BSB)
Canada: Transit Code
Sweden: Clearingnummer
Ukraine: MFO
India: IFSC (Indian Financial System Code)

The codes listed above for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden are incorporated into the IBANs for those countries.

gollark: If that's not a concern, opaque ones.

gollark: You can't block all possible lasers and still be able to see.

gollark: Alternatively, a dodecahedron for no good reason.

gollark: I vote for hexagonal prism lasers.

gollark: And you can get UV LEDs anyway.

Sources

UK Clearings Directory 2005 (p. 297) The Association for Payment Clearing Services

References

"Sort Code Information for Republic of Ireland". Irish Payment Services Organisation Ltd. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
"Martins Bank". www.martinsbank.co.uk.
"Clearing Code Rules" (PDF). UK Sort Codes Information. January 2017.
Topham, Gwyn. "Bank of England to close personal banking service for employees". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
https://www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/belfast-bankers%E2%80%99-clearing-company
"Banking & Payment Federation Ireland - About us - Payments". www.bpfi.ie. July 2018.
"Sort Code database". BPFI. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
"About BPFI". Banking and Payments Federation Ireland. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
Capie, Forrest; Webber, Alan (1985). A Monetary History of the United Kingdom: 1870-1982. Routledge. pp. 289–290. ISBN 04 15381150.
"IBAN registry - This registry provides detailed information about all ISO 13616-compliant national IBAN formats - Release 31, November 2011" (PDF). SWIFT. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2011.

External links

Clearing Codes Rules – the rules for sorting codes, managed by Bacs
Faster Payments sort code checker – shows which payment systems are supported for a given UK sort code
Identify a bank from the sort code – display bank, branch and contact information

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[5] Being phased out

[IPSO_Sort_Code-1] "Sort Code Information for Republic of Ireland". Irish Payment Services Organisation Ltd. Retrieved 25 January 2010.

[2] "Martins Bank". www.martinsbank.co.uk.

[Rules-3] "Clearing Code Rules" (PDF). UK Sort Codes Information. January 2017.

[Bank_of_England_to_close_personal_banking_service_for_employees-4] Topham, Gwyn. "Bank of England to close personal banking service for employees". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2016.

[6] ttps://www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/belfast-bankers%E2%80%99-clearing-company

[IPC_and_BPFI-7] "Banking & Payment Federation Ireland - About us - Payments". www.bpfi.ie. July 2018.

[8] "Sort Code database". BPFI. Retrieved 1 January 2020.

[9] "About BPFI". Banking and Payments Federation Ireland. Retrieved 1 January 2020.

[walks-10] Capie, Forrest; Webber, Alan (1985). A Monetary History of the United Kingdom: 1870-1982. Routledge. pp. 289–290. ISBN 04 15381150.

[IBANRegistry-11] "IBAN registry - This registry provides detailed information about all ISO 13616-compliant national IBAN formats - Release 31, November 2011" (PDF). SWIFT. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 8 November 2011.