New Zealand bank account number

New Zealand bank account numbers in NZD follow a standardised format of 16 digits:

• a prefix representing the bank and branch (six digits), otherwise known as the Bank code;
• the body (seven digits); and
• the suffix representing the product/account type (two or three digits).

While the New Zealand format is similar to Australia's Bank State Branch, the two systems are not interchangeable.

New Zealand bank account numbers in foreign currencies vary by bank.

Background

The origins of the format lay in the establishment of the Databank Systems Limited, a company set up by a consortium of competing New Zealand banks, to provide computing resources (development and operational) for the consortium members.^[1]

Bank codes are coordinated by Payments NZ who administer the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS). The scope of BECS includes direct debits, automatic payments, bill payments, and direct credits.^[2] Payments NZ also administer the following payment systems in New Zealand:^[3]

• Paper Clearing System
• High Value Clearing System
• Consumer Electronic Clearing System

Format of account numbers

Account numbers are generally presented in the format:

BB-bbbb-AAAAAAA-SSS

where B is the bank number (2 digits), b is the branch number (4 digits), A is the account number (7 digits) and S are digits of the suffix (2 or 3 digits). Where a bank displays the suffix as two digits, a leading zero is added to pad the suffix to three digits; i.e. BB-bbbb-AAAAAAA-SS becomes BB-bbbb-AAAAAAA-0SS.

This format allows customers to have a single account number with differing suffixes for multiple accounts of differing types. This does not include credit card and loan products.

Account number prefix

Bank accounts are prefixed with six digits, two indicating the bank and four which indicate the branch. The table below shows which banks are allocated which bank prefix. A current list of branches as their associated bank/branch numbers is available for download from the Payments NZ website.

Account number body

The account body consists of seven digits, right adjusted and padded with zeroes if necessary. The last digit of the body is a check digit which can be validated using a modulus algorithm.^[5]

Account number suffix

The table below shows the account number suffixes as introduced by Databank Systems Limited from 1969.^{[1] [6]}

Some banks (such as BNZ) include three digits of the suffix in their presentation of the number to the end customer. Other banks only show the last two digits of the suffix to the end customer. Technically, all banks have three digit suffixes, it's just that the first digit of the suffix is always 0 so it's usually ignored.

See also

• Bank code
• Bank State Branch, the bank code format used in Australia
• Databank Systems Limited
• ISO 9362, the standard for SWIFT codes, international bank identifiers
• ABA routing transit number, the bank code format used in the United States
• Routing number (Canada), the bank code format used in Canada
• Sort code, a number used in the United Kingdom

References

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