Sort codes are the domestic bank codes used to route money transfers between financial institutions in the United Kingdom, and formerly in Ireland. They are six-digit hierarchical numerical addresses that specify clearing banks, clearing systems, regions, large financial institutions, groups of financial institutions and ultimately resolve to individual branches. In the UK they continue to be used to route transactions domestically within clearance organizations and to identify accounts, while in Ireland (a founder member of the Euro) they have been deprecated and replaced by the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) systems and infrastructure.
The sort code is usually formatted as three pairs of numbers, for example 12-34-56. It identifies both the bank (in the first digit or the first two digits) and the branch where the account is held. Sort codes are encoded into International Bank Account Numbers (IBANs) but are not encoded into Business Identifier Codes (BICs).
Sort codes for Northern Ireland branches of banks (codes beginning with a '9') were registered with the Irish Payment Services Organization (IPSO) for both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. These codes are used in the British clearing system and historically in the Irish system.
History Codes began to be used in the early 20th century to facilitate the manual processing of cheques. Known as a 'national code', these had between three and five digits.
The eleven London clearing banks were each allocated a main number, with the "big five" (and the Bank of England) allocated single-digit numbers alphabetically. Lloyds Bank, for example, was allocated 3 and National Provincial was allocated 5. The remaining single digit codes were used to indicate that a cheque was from outside the London clearing system. The smaller clearing banks were allocated two-digit numbers, for example Martins Bank was allocated 11.
The bank branches were allocated further digits by their bank to make up the entire number; some banks represented these on cheques in smaller type. Main clearing branches (usually major London branches) would have only one digit after the main number, e.g. 111. Metropolitan branches (which covered Greater London) had two digits after the main number, e.g. 1124. Country branches made up the rest of the country, and used three or more digits after the main number, e.g. 11056. They were displayed on cheques in this fashion, with the bank identifier taking precedence.
Six-digit "sorting codes" were introduced in a staggered process from 1957 as the banking industry moved towards automation. The national codes were retained, but where a single digit was used to identify the bank a two-digit range was introduced. So, for example, Barclays codes went from starting with a 2 to 20, Midland from 4 to 40, etc.
+ Clearing bank code allocations Code Bank 1 Bank of England 2 Barclays 3 Lloyds Bank 4 Midland Bank 5 National Provincial 6 Westminster Bank 7 Walks 8 Scottish clearing 9 Irish clearing 11 Martins Bank 15 Glyn, Mills & Company 16 Williams Deacon's Bank 17 National Bank 18 Coutts
List of sort codes of the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom the initial digits of bank sort codes were originally allocated to settlement members of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company and the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Company. Today, sort codes are issued to any organisation that will be a direct member of a UK electronic payment network (in addition to the cheque clearing systems, this includes Bacs, Faster Payments and CHAPS). Non-standard sort codes are issued to payment service providers who need an IBAN, for example for SEPA, as the sort code forms part of this.
The allocation of sort codes is managed by Bacs. These numbers are six digits long, formatted as three pairs separated by hyphens.
Cheque clearing The cheque clearing system in the United Kingdom is managed by Pay.UK, following the merger of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company, Bacs and Faster Payments Ltd in 2018. Since August 2019, sterling cheque clearing has been through the Image Clearing System.
England and Wales In the following list the dates in brackets give the year of merger with the present-day sort code holder, or its subsidiary.
Range Bank Note 00 For IBAN use only 01 NatWest Formerly District Bank (1962) 04 "Utility bank" 04 is used by a large number of new financial institutions. Issued to new participants in the BACS, CHAPS and Faster Payments schemes.Not usable for cheques. See next table. 05 Nationwide Building Society Formerly Yorkshire Bank, a division of Clydesdale Bank plc (2026). Trading as Virgin Money 07-00 to 07-49 Nationwide Building Society 08The Co-operative Bank 08-60 to 08-61 For building societies 08-60-64 for Virgin Money (ex Northern Rock accounts) 08-90 to 08-99 08-30 to 08-39 Citibank 08-31 to 08-32 for UK Government banking (NS&I, HMRC etc.)09-00 to 09-19 Santander UK Formerly Abbey National (2010)09-01-31 to 09-01-36 09-01-39 to 09-01-49 for Alliance & Leicester 09-01-51 to 09-01-56 migrated accounts 10-00 to 10-79 Bank of England Previously used for government banking and BoE employee accounts 11 Bank of Scotland For Halifax (since 1990), earlier used by Martins Bank (1962-1969) See also 80–81 (Scotland), below. 12-00 to 12-69 For Sainsbury's Bank 13 Barclays 14 15 Royal Bank of Scotland Formerly Williams & Glyn's Bank (1985), itself formerly Glyn, Mills & Company (1970) 15-80 For Child & Company private bank,part of The Royal Bank of Scotland (1923) 15-98 to 15-99 For C. Hoare & Co, independent private bank 16 Royal Bank of Scotland Formerly Williams & Glyn's Bank (1985), itself formerly Williams Deacon's Bank (1970) 16-00-38 for Drummonds Bank, part of The Royal Bank of Scotland 16-52-21 for the Cumberland Building Society 16-57-10 for Cater Allen Private Bank, part of Santander Group 17 Formerly Williams & Glyn's Bank (1985), itself formerly The National Bank (1970) 18 For Coutts, a subsidiary of NatWest (1920) 19 20 to 29 Barclays 20-11-47 for HMRC 23-00-88 for VFX Financial 23-05-05 for Stripe 23-05-80 for Metro Bank 23-14-70 for Wise 23-22-21 for Fire Financial Services 23-32-72 for Pockit 23-59-54 for Newcastle Building Society 23-69-72 for Prepay Technologies 23-73-24 for Loot Financial Services 30 to 39 Lloyds Bank and TSB Formerly Lloyds TSB (2013) and earlier for Lloyds Bank (1995) 30-00-66for Arbuthnot Latham Private Bank 30-00-83for Al Rayan Bank 30-02-48for FinecoBank UK 40 to 49 HSBC UK Formerly Midland Bank (1992) 49-99-79 to 49-99-99 for Deutsche Bank 40-12-50 to 40-12-55 for M&S Bank 40-47-58 to 40-47-87 for First Direct 40-51-78 for Jyske Bank Gibraltar 40-51-98 for Turkish Bank UK 40-60-80 for CashFlows 40-63-01 for the Coventry Building Society 40-63-77 for Cynergy Bank Limited 40-64-05 to 40-64-16 for Tesco Bank 40-64-25 for Virgin Money 40-64-37 for Marcus 50 to 59 NatWest Formerly National Provincial Bank (1968) 60 to 66 Formerly Westminster Bank (1968)
60-01-73 for Reliance Bank Limited 60-83-12 for Atom Bank 60-83-14 for Gibraltar International Bank 60-83-66 for Fidor Bank UK 60-83-71 for Starling Bank 60-84-00 for Zopa 60-84-07 for Chase UK (JP Morgan)
60-93-03 for Weatherbys Bank Limited
60-95-34 for Handelsbanken UK personal accounts 70 Used by various international banks for their UK business: no longer issued. Banks including:Bank of BarodaNational Bank of PakistanClose Brothers GroupBank Hapoalim 71 Bank of England National Savings Bank 72 Santander UK Formerly Alliance & Leicester (2010), itself formerly Girobank (1985) 77-00 to 77-44 Lloyds Bank and TSB Formerly Lloyds TSB (2013) and earlier for Trustee Savings Bank (1995) 77-46 to 77-99
04 codes + 04 codesRange Bank Note 04-00-02 BFC Bank 04-00-03 to Monzo 04-00-11 Satabank 04-00-40 Starling Bank 04-00-53 Payrnet/Railsbank 04-00-72 to Modulr 04-00-75 & Revolut 04-00-76 LCH Limited 04-00-78 Elavon Financial Services 04-00-79 to Virgin Money head office04-03-00 to 04-03-29LHV Pank 04-03-33 Mettle by NatWest 04-04-05 ClearBank 04-04-76 to Enumis 04-05-40 to BCB Group 04-06-05 Tide (financial service) by ClearBank 04-13-01 Midpoint & Transfer 04-13-02 to Bilderlings Pay 04-13-04 to Ecology Building Society 04-13-06 Allpay Limited 04-13-07 to Clear Junction 04-13-12 Modulr 04-13-13 to Project Imagine 04-13-15 to Universal Securities & Investment 04-13-17 to Contis Financial Services04-13-42Duesday 04-36-14 to Griffin Bank Ltd
Scotland Separately operated by the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers until 1985.
Range Bank Note 80 to 81 Bank of Scotland 80 to 81 Bank of Scotland Main Scotland range; see also code 11 (England and Wales), above. 82 Nationwide Building Society Formerly Clydesdale Bank plc (2026). Trading as Virgin Money 83 Royal Bank of Scotland formerly National Commercial Bank of Scotland (1969),formerly Commercial Bank of Scotland (1959) 84 formerly National Commercial Bank of Scotland (1969),formerly National Bank of Scotland (1959) 86 87 TSB formerly Lloyds TSB Scotland (2013) formerly TSB Scotland (1995) 89-00 to 89-29 Santander UK formerly Alliance & Leicester (2010)formerly Girobank (2003)
Northern Ireland The clearing system in Northern Ireland was operated under the Belfast Clearing Rules which were agreed by the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Company (formerly the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Committee), until the introduction of the Image Clearing System managed by Pay.UK which was completed in August 2019. Sort codes in the 90 range are managed by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (former Irish Payment Services Organisation (IPSO)).
Range Bank Note 90 Bank of Ireland 91 Danske Bank formerly Northern Bank (2012)formerly Belfast Banking Company (1970) 93 Allied Irish Banks (UK) for AIB (Northern Ireland) formerly First Trust Bank formerly TSB Northern Ireland (1991) 94 Bank of Ireland 95 Danske Bank formerly Northern Bank (2012) former Midland Bank subsidiary (1965) 98 Ulster Bank subsidiary of NatWest (1917)
Sort codes of Ireland
Sort codes are no longer directly used in Ireland, although they still form part of the underlying structure of account numbers. As a part of the Eurozone, all aspects of the SEPA system are fully implemented and adhered to. This means that all domestic transactions, including direct debit and interbank transfers, are processed using an IBAN through the SEPA system. The Irish electronic clearing systems, including those run by the Irish Retail Electronic Payments Clearing Company Ltd, which entered voluntary liquidation in late 2014, have been retired and replaced by SEPA. Domestic cheques continue to be processed by the Irish Paper Clearing Company CLG.
Historically, the Irish banking system shared the sort code structure used in the UK, but operated as a separate system since the Irish pound broke the link with sterling in March 1979. Codes are issued by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) which replaced IPSO in 2014.
The full list of sort codes used in Ireland is as follows:
Note: A large number of lower volume users and smaller banks share the 99 XX XX code and there are at least three users of the 93 XX XX codes assigned primarily to AIB.
Range Bank Note 90 Bank of Ireland 92 Central Bank of Ireland 93 AIB Bank 93-09-03 for JP Morgan Bank Ireland plc 93-90-21 for EBS d.a.c. 95 Danske Bank (Ireland) trading as Danske Bank 98 Ulster Bank Ireland dac 99-06 to 99-07 Permanent TSB
99 is used by a large number of financial institutions, particularly those with smaller branch networks or a single branch: