BIC / SWIFT Code Validation API

How to integrate BIC Validation API in your software

1. What is the BIC Validation API?

When processing wire payments and dealing with IBAN related transactions, providing the correct SWIFT / BIC code is vital to sucecssful payments.
Our company has licensed the official BIC Directory from S.W.I.F.T SCRL to provide a powerful and simple way of validating BIC automatically. This service allows you to integrate BIC code directory lookup in your software for internal purposes

BIC Validation API has SWIFTRef Data Inside. BIC data used with permission of S.W.I.F.T. SCRL. Database rights reserved 2020

2. Features

BIC Validation API key features:

Retrieve information about the bank based on the BIC.
Search the BIC directory by a part of the bank name and country.
Search the BIC Directory for historical records.
Use both complete and simplified API response for easier integration.

3. API Usage

The BIC Validation API is REST based and supports simple HTTP GET or POST requests.

The accepted parameters are listed in the table below:

Field Name	Length	Type	Description
bic	11	String	BIC / SWIFT code to lookup. Can be 8 or 11 characters
bank_name	256	String	Part of a bank name to perform search in the BIC directory.
country	2	String	Two letter country code. Required when searching by bank name.
api_key	128	String	Your personal API key.
format	4	String	Required to specify the format of the returned data. Currently supported values: json, xml
limit		Integer	Optional: can be used to limit the number of results when searching by bank name.
hist		integer	Optional: can be used to display historical records from the database for both bank and BIC search.

Inside your Online Portal you can find your API key and Request Endpoint URL, which is used to secure the search requests.

4. API XML Response Structure

You can download an XSD Schema of the API response.
A detailed description of the fields returned can be seen in the table below:

Field name	Type	Length	Always present	Description
The data field definitions section is only available for licensed users. To purchase a license for the BIC Validation service, please visit our pricing page

The API system returns results in XML format, which is easy to parse in a variety of programming languages and platforms.

A sample XML reply from the API for a BIC search would be:


<result>
<bicdata>
<row>
<modification_flag>A</modification_flag>
<changed_field>34</changed_field>
<record_key>BP0000004OQQ</record_key>
<previous_record_key>BP00000030XZ</previous_record_key>
<next_record_key/>
<event_type>BIC ADDRESS CHANGED</event_type>
<event_date>20150606</event_date>
<bic8>BARCGB22</bic8>
<branch_bic>XXX</branch_bic>
<bic>BARCGB22XXX</bic>
<record_status>C</record_status>
<operationally_active_record>Y</operationally_active_record>
<subtype_indicator>SUPE</subtype_indicator>
<swift_fin>Y</swift_fin>
<swift_fa>N</swift_fa>
<swift_ia>N</swift_ia>
<legal_name>BARCLAYS BANK PLC</legal_name>
<institution_name>BARCLAYS BANK PLC</institution_name>
<institution_type>FINANCIAL</institution_type>
<entity_type>Legal Entity</entity_type>
<re_street_address_1>1, CHURCHILL PLACE</re_street_address_1>
<re_street_address_2/>
<re_street_address_3/>
<re_street_address_4/>
<re_city>LONDON</re_city>
<re_cps/>
<re_zip_code>E14 5HP</re_zip_code>
<re_pob_number/>
<op_street_address_1>1 CHURCHILL PLACE</op_street_address_1>
<op_street_address_2/>
<op_street_address_3/>
<op_street_address_4/>
<op_city>LONDON</op_city>
<op_cps>LONDON E14 5HP</op_cps>
<op_zip_code/>
<op_pob_number/>
<br_street_address_1/>
<br_street_address_2/>
<br_street_address_3/>
<br_street_address_4/>
<br_city/>
<br_cps/>
<br_zip_code/>
<br_pob_number/>
<branch_information>(ALL U.K. OFFICES)</branch_information>
<country_name>UNITED KINGDOM</country_name>
<iso_country_code>GB</iso_country_code>
<location_code>2</location_code>
<fin_service_codes>EBAERPFINSCOSTGTGT</fin_service_codes>
<record_key_bdp>BD00000006FO</record_key_bdp>
<field_a/>
<field_b/>
<field_c/>
<field_d/>
<field_e/>
<field_f></field_f>
</row>
</bicdata>
<errors/>
</result>

5. API Errors

In case of an error the API returns an XML response containing the error message.

The XML tags are returned without any other fields in the XML response.

Below you can find a description of all possible error messages that could be returned:

Status Code	Type	Description
301	Account Error	API Key is invalid
302	Account Error	Subscription expired
303	Account Error	No queries available
304	Account Error	You have no access to this API
401	Input Error	Accepted SWIFT length 8 or 11 characters'
402	Input Error	Bank Name Invalid! Bank search should be minimum of 4 characters. Allowed characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9, [space]!
403	Input Error	Country code incorrect! Allowed is 2 letter country code. Example: UK, DE, FR