What bank details someone needs to pay you in the UK and from abroad

If someone in the UK wants to pay you, they need three things: your account name, your sort code and your account number. If they are paying you from another country, they need your account name, your IBAN and usually a BIC or SWIFT code. That is the short answer, and for most payments it is the whole answer.

This page covers what each of those details is for, which ones you actually need to give out, whether sharing them is safe, how long an incoming payment should take, and what to do when one arrives late or short.

Three details, and no more than three.

Your account name, spelled as the bank holds it. For a personal account that is the name on the account; for a business it is the registered company name, not a trading name. This matters more than it used to—banks now check the name against the account before the payment goes through.

Your sort code: six digits, identifying the bank and branch.

Your account number: eight digits, identifying the account itself.

That is everything a UK payment needs. You do not need to give your address, your date of birth, your online banking details, a copy of your card, or a one-time passcode. If someone paying you asks for any of those, they are either confused or the request is not what it appears to be. A payment into your account needs only the three details above.

An international payment uses different identifiers, because sort codes and account numbers are a domestic UK format that banks elsewhere cannot route.

Your account name, again exactly as registered.

Your IBAN: the International Bank Account Number. It is a single string that contains your country, your bank and your account in one identifier, and it is what almost every international payment is addressed to.

Your BIC, also called a SWIFT code, which identifies your bank rather than your account. Within Europe this is often no longer required because the IBAN alone is enough, but plenty of senders and systems still ask for it, so it is worth having to hand. For more details on these identifiers, see our guide to IBAN, BIC and SWIFT codes.

Some corridors also ask for your bank's name and address, and occasionally your own address. This is normal for payments going through certain countries and is a routing requirement rather than a check on you.

One thing worth getting right in advance: the currency. A payment sent in euro to an account that holds only pounds will be converted by whichever bank in the chain holds the balance, at a rate you did not choose and cannot see. If you are regularly paid in a currency, holding an account in that currency removes the conversion entirely.

For receiving money, yes. Your account name, sort code and account number—or your IBAN and BIC—let someone put money into your account. They do not let anyone take money out of it. These details appear on the bottom of every cheque and on every invoice ever issued, and they are designed to be shared.

The risks that do exist are worth understanding, because they are different from the one people worry about.

The first is that someone is tricked into sending money to the wrong account—usually because a criminal has impersonated a person or business the sender trusts.

The fraud is committed against the sender, not against you, and it does not involve misusing details you gave out.

The second is invoice interception: an invoice is altered in transit, or a convincing email arrives saying your bank details have changed. This is the one to guard against as a business. If you send invoices, expect your customers to be cautious about a change of details, and never send changed details by email alone. If you receive such a message from a supplier, confirm it by phone on a number you already have.

There is also a check that did not used to exist. When someone sets up a payment to you, their bank compares the name they typed against the name registered to the account and tells them whether it matches. It is why the exact account name matters, and it means a payment to a wrong or slightly altered account is now flagged before it leaves.

What you should still never share is anything that gives access rather than direction: online banking credentials, card numbers, PINs, or a one-time passcode. No legitimate payer needs any of them to pay you.

It depends entirely on the route, and the routes differ by more than most people expect.

A UK payment between UK banks usually arrives in seconds, through Faster Payments, at any time of day.

A euro payment from inside the single euro payments area arrives by the end of the next business day, or in seconds if it was sent as an instant transfer. It is subject to the sending bank's cut-off, so one sent late on a Friday can arrive on Tuesday.

Anything else—a payment in another currency, or from outside that area—travels by SWIFT and typically takes one to four working days. It passes through one or two intermediary banks on the way, and each stage adds time.

A first payment from a sender you have not received from before may take longer than any of these, because it can be held for a routine compliance check. Nothing is announced when this happens: the sender sees the money leave and you see nothing arrive.

Four causes account for nearly all of it.

The name did not match. If the account name the sender typed does not match the name on your account, the payment may be rejected and returned. "Acme Ltd" against "Acme Limited" is enough in some systems.

An intermediary bank took a fee. On a SWIFT payment, each bank in the chain can deduct a handling charge, and two intermediaries are common. That is usually where a missing amount went—not one large unexplained deduction but several ordinary ones, taken by banks neither you nor the sender chose.

It missed a cut-off. International payments are processed in daily batches. A payment submitted after the deadline joins the next one, and a public holiday in either country—or in the country of an intermediary bank—extends it again.

It is in a compliance review. Routine on first payments from a new sender, on unusually large amounts, and on some jurisdictions. Asking rather than waiting is usually worth several days.

The details are the same. Three things change.

The account has to be in your registered company name. A business receiving commercial payments into a personal account will eventually have them blocked, and the reason given is rarely clear. With name checking now standard, a mismatch between your invoice and your account will also cause your customer's payment to fail before it leaves.

Your invoice should carry a reference your customer will actually use, and your details should appear on it in the form the payment needs: IBAN and BIC for an international customer, sort code and account number for a domestic one. Giving a customer the wrong format is the most common reason a first payment is late.

And the currency you invoice in decides everything else. Invoicing in euro and being paid into a sterling account means a conversion on every payment. Invoicing in euro into a euro account means the payment is domestic from the network's point of view.

What bank details do I give someone to pay me?

In the UK: your account name, sort code and account number. From abroad: your account name, your IBAN and usually a BIC or SWIFT code. Nothing else is needed for a payment to reach you.

Is it safe to give someone my account number and sort code?

Yes. Those details allow money to be paid in, not taken out. They appear on cheques and invoices and are meant to be shared. Never share online banking credentials, card details, PINs or one-time passcodes, which are a different thing entirely.

What details are needed to receive money from abroad?

Your account name as registered, your IBAN and, in most cases, your BIC or SWIFT code. Some countries also ask for your bank's address or your own. You do not need to provide a sort code, which is a domestic UK format.

How long does it take to receive money from abroad?

A euro payment from within the single euro payments area arrives by the next business day, or in seconds if sent as an instant transfer. Other international payments travel by SWIFT and usually take one to four working days. A first payment from a new sender may take longer if it is held for review.

Why did less money arrive than was sent?

Almost always because the payment travelled by SWIFT and one or two intermediary banks deducted handling fees along the way. It can also happen through currency conversion if the payment arrived in a currency your account does not hold.

Can I receive money from abroad into an ordinary account?

Usually yes, provided the account can accept international payments and the sender has your IBAN. Whether it can hold the currency the payment arrives in is a separate question, and if it cannot, the money is converted on arrival.

Does the account name have to match exactly?

It should. Name checking is now standard on domestic UK payments and on instant euro payments, and the sender is shown whether the name they entered matches. A mismatch may not block the payment but it will warn your customer, and in some systems it will cause a return.

Keytom provides euro and US dollar accounts with dedicated IBANs for businesses, so payments arrive in the currency they were sent in rather than being converted on the way. Keytom Services Ltd is registered with FINTRAC as a money services business, registration number M21788474.

If you invoice in another currency, the questions worth asking any provider are the ones on this page: whether the account holds that currency in its own right, which networks it reaches, and how a first payment from a new customer is handled.