How many digits make up a bank’s sort code?
Sort code 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 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
Sort code "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 Barclays account, as is 08-32-10 for National Insurance. The cheque clearing system in Great Britain is currently managed by the Cheque and Credit