IBAN format · BE

Belgium IBAN format: 16 characters.

Belgium IBANs have 16 characters: the country code BE, two check digits and a 12-character BBAN, the national account number, laid out as 3!n7!n2!n.

Belgium IBAN structure

BE68539007547034

Country code: BE
Check digits: 68
Bank code: 539
Account: 0075470
National check digits: 34

Parts of a Belgium IBAN and their positions
Positions	Part	In the example
1–2	Country code	BE
3–4	Check digits	68
5–7	Bank code	539
8–14	Account	0075470
15–16	National check digits	34

The BBAN, segment by segment

The registry writes the BBAN in SWIFT notation: n is a digit, a an upper-case letter, c a letter or digit, and the ! means a fixed length. 3!n7!n2!n reads:

The Belgium BBAN format, segment by segment
Positions	Notation	Holds	Example
5–7	3!n	3 digitsBank code	539
8–14	7!n	7 digitsAccount number	0075470
15–16	2!n	2 digitsNational check digits	34

Belgium IBAN example

BE68 5390 0754 7034 is the sample the SWIFT IBAN Registry publishes for Belgium: a well-formed IBAN for showing the format, not a real account. Written electronically it has no spaces (BE68539007547034); on paper it is printed in groups of four.

Its check digits, worked through with ISO 7064 mod 97-10:

Move the country code and check digits to the end
539007547034BE68
Replace each letter with two digits (A = 10 … Z = 35)
B = 11, E = 14
539007547034111468
Divide that number by 97 and keep the remainder
Remainder 1. A valid IBAN always leaves 1, so the check digits are right.
Where the check digits come from
Put 00 in their place (BE00…), repeat steps 1–3: remainder 30. The check digits are 98 − 30 = 68.

SEPA

Belgium is in the Single Euro Payments Area, so SEPA credit transfers and direct debits can reach BE IBANs; whether a given bank takes part is up to that bank.

What the format can and can’t tell you

Valid means the structure and check digits are right — not that the account exists or can receive payments.
National check digits inside the BBAN (e.g. the French RIB key, or the Spanish, Belgian and Italian CIN digits) are not verified.
Bank and branch codes are read from their positions; they are not looked up in a bank directory.

Check BE IBANs from code or an AI agent

REST · GET · no key

curl -s 'https://payopskit.com/api/v1/iban/BE68539007547034'

MCP · tools/call · validate_iban

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "validate_iban",
    "arguments": {
      "iban": "BE68539007547034"
    }
  }
}

Response (JSON)

{
  "input": "BE68539007547034",
  "iban": "BE68539007547034",
  "print": "BE68 5390 0754 7034",
  "valid": true,
  "country": {
    "code": "BE",
    "name": "Belgium",
    "sepa": true,
    "sepaNote": null
  },
  "checkDigits": "68",
  "expectedCheckDigits": "68",
  "length": {
    "actual": 16,
    "expected": 16
  },
  "bban": "539007547034",
  "bbanFormat": "3!n7!n2!n",
  "bankCode": "539",
  "branchCode": null,
  "parts": [
    {
      "label": "Country code",
      "value": "BE",
      "start": 0,
      "end": 2,
      "kind": "country"
    },
    {
      "label": "Check digits",
      "value": "68",
      "start": 2,
      "end": 4,
      "kind": "check"
    },
    {
      "label": "Bank code",
      "value": "539",
      "start": 4,
      "end": 7,
      "kind": "bank"
    },
    {
      "label": "Account",
      "value": "0075470",
      "start": 7,
      "end": 14,
      "kind": "account"
    },
    {
      "label": "National check digits",
      "value": "34",
      "start": 14,
      "end": 16,
      "kind": "national-check"
    }
  ],
  "checks": {
    "characters": true,
    "country": true,
    "length": true,
    "bbanFormat": true,
    "checksum": true
  },
  "errors": [],
  "notes": [
    "Valid means the structure and check digits are right — not that the account exists or can receive payments.",
    "National check digits inside the BBAN (e.g. the French RIB key, or the Spanish, Belgian and Italian CIN digits) are not verified."
  ]
}

The MCP server is at /mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key); the API and MCP docs show how to connect Claude, Cursor or VS Code.

From a national account number: GET /api/v1/iban/check-digits?country=BE&bban=… or the MCP tool compute_iban_check_digits computes the check digits and the whole IBAN.

Other 16-character IBANs

No other registry country uses 16 characters. See every IBAN length.

Source: the SWIFT IBAN Registry (ISO 13616), transcribed and checked against each country’s registry example; the positions of bank and branch codes are given only where the registry’s are well established. The SWIFT IBAN Registry is the authority. Informational only.