I just arrived in Spain and opened an account with Sabadell. Recently, my family wanted to send me some living expenses from home and asked for the bank’s SWIFT code, which completely confused me. I thought you only needed an IBAN for transfers within the EU, but now they’re asking for a SWIFT. What’s the difference between the two? After some research, I’ve finally figured it out and wanted to share it with other newcomers to Spain who might be just as puzzled as I was.
Simply put, both are like your bank’s ‘ID number’ for international transfers.
- IBAN: International Bank Account Number. This uniquely identifies your personal account and includes the country code, bank code, branch code, and your own account information. For transfers within the European Union, the IBAN is usually sufficient.
- BIC / SWIFT Code: Bank Identifier Code. This is the bank’s own ‘ID card,’ used to identify specific banks worldwide. When receiving money from outside the EU, in addition to your IBAN, you will typically need to provide the bank’s BIC/SWIFT code, which is one of the Spanish bank codes.
How to Find Sabadell Bank Codes
So, here comes the key point about Spanish bank codes: what exactly is Sabadell’s code? It’s actually very simple. Sabadell’s main BIC/SWIFT code is fixed, so you just need to remember it.
BIC/SWIFT Code: BSABESBB
This code is universal. No matter which city or branch in Spain you opened your account at, this code will work for international transfers to your Sabadell account. As for the IBAN, that is unique to each person and you’ll need to find your own.
How to find your own IBAN?
There are several convenient ways to find your IBAN:
- Bank App / Online Banking: Log in to your Sabadell mobile banking app or online portal. You’ll find it easily in your account details, typically starting with ‘ES’ followed by 22 digits.
- Bank Statements: Your full IBAN will be listed in the account information section of your paper or electronic bank statements.
- Bank Card: Some newer bank cards may have the IBAN printed directly on them, but not all of them do. Mine doesn’t, for example.
- Visit a Branch: The simplest but most reliable method is to go to any Sabadell branch with your ID/residence permit and ask the staff to look it up and print it out for you.
To make it easier to understand, I’ve created a simple table summarizing the information you need to provide to the sender.
| Information | English | Spanish | Description |
|---|
| Beneficiary Name | Beneficiary Name | Nombre del beneficiario | Your full name as it appears on your passport, must match the name on the bank account exactly. |
| Beneficiary IBAN | Beneficiary IBAN | IBAN del beneficiario | The 24-character code starting with ES, your unique personal account number. |
| Beneficiary Bank | Beneficiary Bank | Banco del beneficiario | Banco de Sabadell, S.A. |
| SWIFT/BIC Code | SWIFT/BIC Code | Código SWIFT/BIC | BSABESBB |
| Bank Address | Bank Address | Dirección del banco | Avda. Óscar Esplá, 37, 03007 Alicante, Spain |
I hope this information helps everyone! Next time someone asks, you can just send them this post, haha. If there’s anything incorrect about these Spanish bank codes, please feel free to correct or add information in the comments below.
