Bank state branch: Difference between revisions

A Bank State Branch (often abbreviated and used in conversation as "BSB") is the name used in Australia and New Zealand for a bank code, which is a branch identifier. Both countries use an identifier consisting of a six digit numerical code that identifies an individual branch of an Australian and New Zealand financial institution. The BSB is normally used in association with the bank account number. However, the New Zealand and Australian systems are incompatible. For international transfers a SWIFT identifier is used in addition to the BSB identifier and a bank account number.

The use of the BSB identifier in association with bank account numbers was introduced in the early 1970s with the introduction of MICR on cheques to mechanise the process of data capture by the banks as well as for mechanical sorting of the physical cheques for forwarding to the payer bank branch for final clearance.

In Australia, the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) is the regulatory body of the BSB codes in Australia. The identifier consists of six numerals, the first two of which is a bank identifier. APCA assigns the two-digit bank code and the financal institution allocates the other four digits to its branches, in line with guidelines set by APCA. As of March 2012, almost 14,300 unique BSB code values are in use.

Format

In Australia, the general format of the BSB code is as follows:

• The first two digits ("Bank") specify the parent financial institution;
• The third digit ("State") specifies the state where the branch is located;
• The remaining three digits ("Branch") specify the branch.

In New Zealand, the first two digits specify the "Bank" and the other four digits specify the "Branch".

For example, the Australian BSB code "033088" actually breaks down to:

• 03 = Westpac Banking Corporation
• 3 = Victoria
• 088 = 383 Chapel Street, Prahran

Some of the larger banks have two "Bank" prefixes to distinguish between their trading (cheque) and savings accounts. The first digit is either 0 (to denote trading accounts) or 1 (to denote savings accounts), with a common second digit. For example, 03 is for Westpac's trading accounts, while 73 is for Westpac's savings accounts. This convention hearkens back to when banking systems were much less automated, and helped bank staff manage large numbers of financial transactions by splitting them into different groupings.

While banks usually follow this system, building societies and credit unions often do not. Building societies and former ones start with 63xxxx and credit unions 80xxxx. The state code does not always apply e.g. 633xxx is for Bendigo Bank which started as a building society in Victoria however 638xxx is for Queensland based Heritage Building Society. A financial institution may also use one centralised BSB for all accounts. Suncorp uses 484799 for all deposit accounts regardless of which branch or state the account was opened in. St George Bank does something similar to Suncorp.

With the expansion of the banking sector there are now many institutions which are now identified by the first three digits and "state" field is part of the "bank" identifier.

Usage

In Australia, BSB codes are allocated by the Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA).

BSB codes are used in two payment systems in Australia - Australian Paper Clearing System (APCS) (also known as CS1) and Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS) (also known as CS2).

Cheques are the most common payment system which fall under APCS. BSB and bank account numbers are used to identify the account to be debited and are printed on cheques.

Electronic fund transfers between bank accounts use the Direct Entry system. BSB and bank account numbers are used when transferring funds via the Direct Entry System.

List of Australian Bank codes

List of State codes

• 2 - Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales
• 3 - Victoria
• 4 - Queensland
• 5 - South Australia, Northern Territory
• 6 - Western Australia
• 7 - Tasmania

See also

• ISO 9362, the standard for SWIFT codes, international bank idientifiers
• List of banks in Australia
• Sort code, a number used in the United Kingdom that is similar to the BSB

External links

• Australian Payments Clearing Association Limited (APCA), the body that regulates BSB numbers
• Look up BSB Numbers on the Official APCA web site (constantly updated)