Sort code

Sort codes, in the British and Irish banking industries, are bank codes used to route money transfers between banks within their respective countries via their respective clearance organisations. In Ireland, a sort code is known as the NSC or National Sort Code and is regulated by IPSO (Irish Payment Services Organisation). Although sort codes in both countries have the same format, they are regulated by different authorities as each country has its own banking system.

Banks in Northern Ireland can be part of either the British or the Irish clearing system, depending on their country of registration. Also, sort codes for Northern Ireland branches of banks registered in both Northern Ireland and the Republic, are valid, and recognised for use in the Republic. The numbering ranges for both are complementary, but do not overlap.

The sort code, which is a six-digit number, 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. In some cases, the first digit of the sort code identifies the bank itself and in other cases the first 2 digits identify the bank. Although there is a strong correlation between BIC Codes and sort codes, sort codes are not explicitly encoded into BIC codes (although they are encoded into IBANs).

Six-digit sort codes were introduced in a staggered process during the 1960s as the banking industry moved towards automation. Prior to this and to facilitate the manual processing of cheques branches were allocated a 'national code' which would comprise anything between three and five digits. These took the following form:

The bank itself was allocated a main number alphabetically; Lloyds Bank for example was allocated 3, National Provincial was allocated 5, Martins was allocated 11.

Main clearing branches (usually elite London branches) would bear only one digit after the main number, e.g. 111. Metropolitan branches (which covered Greater London) consisted of two digits after the main number, e.g. 1124. Country branches made up the rest of the country, and bear three digits after the main number, e.g. 11056. They were displayed on cheques in this fashion, with the bank identifier taking precedence.

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