Sort code

Sort codes are the domestic bank codes used to route money transfers between financial institutions in the United Kingdom, and formerly in 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 organizations and to identify accounts, while in Ireland they have been deprecated and replaced by the Single Euro Payments Area systems and infrastructure.
The sort code 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. Sort codes are encoded into International Bank Account Numbers but are not encoded into Business Identifier Codes.
Sort codes for Northern Ireland branches of banks were registered with the Irish Payment Services Organization for both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. These codes are used in the British clearing system and historically in the Irish system.

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" 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 Bank 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 would have only one digit after the main number, e.g. 111. Metropolitan branches 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. 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.

Code	Bank
1	Bank of England
2	Barclays
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 & Company
16	Williams Deacon's Bank
17	National Bank
18	Coutts

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. 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 as three pairs 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 and Wales

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

Range	Bank	Note
`00`	For IBAN use only
`01`	NatWest	Formerly District Bank
`04`	"Utility bank"	04 is used by a large number of new financial institutions. Issued to new participants in the BACS, CHAPS and Faster Payments schemes. Not usable for cheques. See next table.
`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`	The Co-operative Bank	For building societies `08-60-64` for Virgin Money
`08-90` to `08-99`	The Co-operative Bank
`08-30` to `08-39`	Citibank	`08-31` to `08-32` for UK Government banking
`09-00` to `09-19`	Santander UK	Formerly Abbey National
`09-00` to `09-19`	Santander UK	`09-01-31` to `09-01-36` `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
`11`	Bank of Scotland	For Halifax, earlier used by Martins Bank
`12-00` to `12-69`	Bank of Scotland	For Sainsbury's Bank
`13`	Barclays
`14`	Barclays
`15`	Royal Bank of Scotland	Formerly Williams & Glyn's Bank, itself formerly Glyn, Mills & Company
`15-80`	Royal Bank of Scotland	For Child & Company private bank, part of The Royal Bank of Scotland
`15-98` to `15-99`	Royal Bank of Scotland	For C. Hoare & Co, independent private bank
`16`	Royal Bank of Scotland	Formerly Williams & Glyn's Bank, itself formerly Williams Deacon's Bank `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`	Royal Bank of Scotland	Formerly Williams & Glyn's Bank, itself formerly The National Bank
`18`	Royal Bank of Scotland	For Coutts, a subsidiary of NatWest
`19`	Royal Bank of Scotland
`20` to `29`	Barclays	`20-11-47` for HMRC `23-00-88` for VFX Financial `23-05-05` for Stripe `23-05-80` for Metro Bank `23-14-70` for Wise `23-22-21` for Fire Financial Services `23-32-72` for Pockit `23-59-54` for Newcastle Building Society `23-69-72` for Prepay Technologies `23-73-24` for Loot Financial Services
`30` to `39`	Lloyds Bank and TSB	Formerly Lloyds TSB and earlier for Lloyds Bank `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 UK	Formerly Midland Bank `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 `40-64-05` to `40-64-16` for Tesco Bank `40-64-25` for Virgin Money `40-64-37` for Marcus
`50` to `59`	NatWest	Formerly National Provincial Bank
`60` to `66`	NatWest	Formerly Westminster Bank `60-01-73` for Reliance Bank Limited `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 `60-84-00` for Zopa `60-84-07` for Chase UK `60-93-03` for Weatherbys Bank Limited `60-95-34` for Handelsbanken UK personal accounts
`70`	Used by various international banks for their UK business: no longer issued.	Banks including: Bank of Baroda National Bank of Pakistan Close Brothers Group Bank Hapoalim
`71`	Bank of England	National Savings Bank
`72`	Santander UK	Formerly Alliance & Leicester, itself formerly Girobank
`77-00` to `77-44`	Lloyds Bank and TSB	Formerly Lloyds TSB and earlier for Trustee Savings Bank
`77-46` to `77-99`	Lloyds Bank and TSB	Formerly Lloyds TSB and earlier for Trustee Savings Bank

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`	Royal Bank of Scotland	formerly National Commercial Bank of Scotland, formerly Commercial Bank of Scotland
`84`	Royal Bank of Scotland	formerly National Commercial Bank of Scotland, formerly National Bank of Scotland
`86`	Royal Bank of Scotland
`87`	TSB	formerly Lloyds TSB Scotland formerly TSB Scotland
`89-00` to `89-29`	Santander UK	formerly Alliance & Leicester formerly Girobank

Northern Ireland

The clearing system in Northern Ireland was operated under the Belfast Clearing Rules which were agreed by the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Company, until the introduction of the Image Clearing System managed by Pay.UK which was completed in August 2019. Sort codes in the 90 range are managed by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland.

Range	Bank	Note
`90`	Bank of Ireland
`91`	Danske Bank	formerly Northern Bank formerly Belfast Banking Company
`93`	Allied Irish Banks (UK)	for AIB formerly First Trust Bank formerly TSB Northern Ireland
`94`	Bank of Ireland
`95`	Danske Bank	formerly Northern Bank former Midland Bank subsidiary
`98`	Ulster Bank	subsidiary of NatWest

Sort codes of Ireland

Sort codes are no longer directly used in 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.
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 and Payments Federation Ireland which replaced IPSO in 2014.
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
`99-06` to `99-07`	Permanent TSB

99 is used by a large number of financial institutions, particularly those with smaller branch networks or a single branch:

Range	Bank	Note
`99-00-51` to `99-00-52`	Citibank Europe plc
`99-00-61` to `99-00-62`	Bank of America Realex Financial Services
`99-02-04`	Royal Bank of Scotland
`99-02-06`	BNP Paribas Ireland
`99-02-12`	Barclays Bank Ireland
`99-02-31`	HSBC Bank
`99-02-40`	ING Bank
`99-02-60`	Rabobank International
`99-02-70`	KBC Bank Ireland
`99-03-01`	An Post
`99-03-20`	for Aareal Bank
`99-03-25`	for CACEIS Bank
`99-03-60`	for Revolut Bank UAB
`99-04`	Bank of Scotland
`99-10`	BNP Paribas Ireland for Irish Credit Unions
`99-11-99`	Fire Financial Services
`99-21` to `99-22`	Irish Credit Unions
`99-99-01`	Central Bank of Ireland for the Paymaster General of Ireland Irish Bank Resolution Corporation

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

Codes in the 70 range – "walks"

Numbers starting with a '7' were reserved for the large number of London offices of banks which were not members of the London Clearing system. 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' because they were cleared by being hand-delivered to the drawee banks by messengers from the Clearing House.
By the 1990s, most of 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. For cheques drawn on banks that had not made such an arrangement, the cheques were posted to the drawee bank, who would settle them by a cheque drawn on a clearing bank.

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 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.
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. 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 – superseded by and incorporated into the IBAN as part of SEPA standardization
Switzerland: Bankenclearing-Nummer
Australia: Bank-State-Branch
Canada: Transit Code
Sweden: Clearingnummer
Ukraine: MFO
India: IFSC

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