Sort code

A sort code is the name given by both the British and Irish banking industry to the bank codes which are used to route money transfers between banks within their respective countries via their respective clearance organisations. In Ireland it is known as the NSC or National Sort Code^[1] and is regulated by IPSO (Irish Payment Services Organisation).^[2] Although sort codes in both countries have the same format, they are regulated by different authorities as each country has its own banking system.^[3][4]

Banks in Northern Ireland can be part of either the British or the Irish clearing system, depending on their country of registration.^[5] Also, sort codes for Northern Ireland branches of banks registered in both Northern Ireland and the Republic, are valid, and recognised for use in the Republic.^[2] The numbering ranges for both are complementary, but do not overlap.

The sort code, which is a six-digit number, is usually formatted as three pairs of numbers, for example 12-34-56. It identifies both the bank and the branch where the account is held. In some cases, the first digit of the sort code identifies the bank itself and in other cases the first 2 digits identify the bank.^[1] Although there is a strong correlation between BIC Codes and sort codes, sort codes are not explicitly encoded into BIC codes (although they are encoded into IBANs).

History

Six-digit sort codes were introduced in a staggered process during the 1960s as the banking industry moved towards automation. Prior to this and to facilitate the manual processing of cheques branches were allocated a 'national code' which would comprise anything between three and five digits. These took the following form:

The bank itself was allocated a main number alphabetically; Lloyds Bank for example was allocated 3, National Provincial was allocated 5, Martins was allocated 11.

Main clearing branches (usually elite London branches) would bear only one digit after the main number, e.g. 111. Metropolitan branches (which covered Greater London) consisted of two digits after the main number, e.g. 1124. Country branches made up the rest of the country, and bear three digits after the main number, e.g. 11056.^[6] They were displayed on cheques in this fashion, with the bank identifier taking precedence.

To facilitate the move to a six-digit-structure the national codes were retained but where a single-digit was used to identify the bank a two-digit range was introduced, e.g. Barclays branches went from 2 to 20, Midland from 4 to 40, etc.

List of sort codes of the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the initial digits of bank sort codes are allocated to settlement members of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company and the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Committee. These numbers are six digits long, formatted into three pairs which are separated by hyphens.

The following list shows the first two digits of the sort codes allocated to clearing banks. Thus, in the example 01-10-01, 01 indicates that the bank is a branch of the National Westminster Bank; the other sets of digits are for internal use. This example represents the NatWest branch in Spring Gardens, Manchester. Clearing banks can act for other banks, so looking up a bank by sort code in this list does not always mean the account is actually handled by that bank, e.g. the sort code 08-32-00 HMRC VAT is not a Co-operative Bank account but a Citibank account, as is 08-32-10 for National Insurance.

Cheque and Credit Clearing Company

The clearing system in Great Britain is managed by the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company, under the umbrella of the Association for Payment Clearing Services.

London clearings

In 1991 the Committee of London and Scottish Bankers, formerly the Committee of London Clearing Bankers, was wound up and its work absorbed with that of the British Bankers' Association. In the following list the dates in parenthesis signify the year of merger with the present-day sort code holder, or subsidiary thereof.

*being phased out

Scottish clearings

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

Belfast Bankers' Clearing Company

The clearing system in Northern Ireland is operated under the Belfast Clearing Rules which are agreed by the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Company (formerly the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Committee).

Sort codes of the Republic of Ireland

The sort code ranges in use in the Republic of Ireland are broadly similar to those used in Northern Ireland. Exceptions include:

• 92 - for Central Bank of Ireland/Irish Government use;
• 99 - used by Irish Permanent TSB, the former Bank of Scotland/Halifax (Ireland), and for clearing accounts for major international banks.

Sort codes in the 70 range - "walks"

When the six-digit sort code system was set up in the 1960s, numbers in the 70 range were reserved for the large number of London offices of banks which were not members of the London Clearing. Individual sort codes within the range 70-00-00 to 70-99-99 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" because they were cleared by being hand-delivered ("walked") to the drawee banks by messengers from the Clearing House.^[7] By the 1990s, all these banks had been issued with sort codes within the ranges of the various clearing banks which, henceforth, acted as clearing agents for them. The practice of "walking" cheques was ended and use of the 70 code range was discontinued.

International clearance

The British and Irish sort codes are only used for domestic money transfers. If money is being transferred across international borders, an international network is used. At the beginning of 2014 all European countries using the EURO switched to the IBAN as a means of identifying bank account numbers and previously used coding systems such as the BLZ, BIC, SWIFT and even account numbers are not in use any more. However, transfers to, amongst others, the United States and Australia make use of the BIC Codes. Characters 9 to 14 of British and Irish IBANs hold the bank account sort code.^[8]

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.^[8] Other countries, however, have or had codes which are equivalent to sort codes, but with formats unique to the country concerned. Examples include:

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

See also

• Banks of the United Kingdom
• Industry Sorting Code Directory
• Bank Identifier Code
• International Bank Account Number

Sources

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

References