LEI, BIC, and IBAN: entity, institution, and account identifiers

A Legal Entity Identifier, or LEI, identifies a legal entity. A Business Identifier Code, or BIC, identifies a business party and can include a branch reference. An International Bank Account Number, or IBAN, identifies an account under a specified national format. These identifiers refer to different objects and cannot substitute for one another.

An LEI resolves an entity to its reference record

The LEI record associates the identifier with a legal name, addresses, registration information, entity status, and maintenance data. Relationship records can identify direct and ultimate accounting-consolidating parents where those relationships are reported.

A parent and its subsidiary remain different entities. A parent relationship in reference data does not make the parent liable for every subsidiary obligation.

The LEI also does not establish that an employee has authority to transact for the entity. Identifying the principal and authenticating an authorized representative are separate tasks.

A BIC is not an account number

A BIC identifies a business party, with an optional additional reference for a location, department, service, or unit. The common phrase “SWIFT code” does not mean every BIC is connected to the Swift messaging network.

Connection status is an attribute in the relevant directory. It is not established merely by recognizing a correctly formed code. A BIC can also identify a non-financial organization.

An account at a bank and a BIC associated with that bank therefore describe different levels of the payment relationship.

An IBAN check validates structure rather than ownership

An IBAN includes a country identifier, check digits, and a nationally specified account component. Validation checks the applicable national format and the check-digit calculation.

A successful check establishes structural consistency. It does not prove that the account exists, remains open, belongs to the named beneficiary, or can receive the intended payment.

An ownership or account-status check requires evidence beyond the identifier’s syntax, such as confirmation from the servicing institution or an appropriate verification service.

Entity, branch, and account mappings must remain explicit

Take a group parent, a bank subsidiary, an operating branch reference, and a customer account. The parent and subsidiary need distinct entity records. The branch reference must be mapped to the entity it serves. The customer account must be connected to its account holder and servicing institution.

Collapsing all four into a single “bank ID” loses the distinction between ownership, operational routing, and the party that owes the account balance.

Reference data needs a date and validation state

Legal names, addresses, operational status, and reported relationships can change while an identifier persists. Store the record date and relevant renewal or validation fields alongside the identifier.

An accurate identifier match is the beginning of a determination about the entity or account. It is not evidence of sanctions clearance, a banking license, or permission to release a payment.