also called ABA number · BSB · IFSC · sort code
The domestic code that identifies your specific bank or branch inside a country, called a routing number in the US, a sort code in the UK, a BSB in Australia and an IFSC in India.
A routing number is the domestic code that tells a payment which bank or branch to reach inside a given country. Every country has its own version under its own name: a routing number in the US, a sort code in the UK, a BSB in Australia, an IFSC in India. You hand it over alongside the account number so a local payment lands in the right place.
A new client asks for your bank details to pay you, and you send an IBAN because that is what your European account gave you. They wanted the local routing code their system uses instead, so the payment bounces, and you learn that each country asks for its own type by its own name.
Getting paid locally means giving the right domestic code alongside the account number, and each country uses a different one with a different name and length. Handing over the wrong type, or an IBAN when they wanted a routing number, is a common reason a payment bounces.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
These are the identifiers that route money to the right account, and the checks around them.
An IBAN is the standardised international account format used mainly in Europe, a routing number is the domestic code for your specific bank or branch, called a sort code, BSB or IFSC elsewhere, and a virtual IBAN is a local-looking account number a fintech issues you while the money sits centrally.
IBAN discrimination is a company illegally refusing a foreign euro account, and beneficiary verification checks that the account name matches before the money sends.
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