IBANforge

Swiss Clearing (BC-Nummer)

Look up a Swiss BC-Nummer / IID (institution identification number) and get back the institution, its registered address, its BIC, and its payment-rail participation: SIC, RTGS in CHF, instant payments, euroSIC, and LSV+/BDD direct debits. Backed by 1,190 entries from the official SIX BankMaster — IBANforge is the only public API exposing this dataset.

For Swiss and Liechtenstein IBANs, /v1/iban/validate already inlines this data in its clearing field. Use this endpoint when you start from a clearing number instead of an IBAN.

Endpoint

GET https://api.ibanforge.com/v1/ch/clearing/:iid

Cost: $0.003 per request (or free-tier quota / prepaid credits)

Path parameter

ParameterTypeDescription
iidstringThe BC-Nummer / IID, 3–5 digits. Leading zeros are optional: 230 and 00230 resolve identically.

Headers

HeaderValueRequired
AuthorizationBearer ifk_... (free API key)One of the two
X-PAYMENTx402 payment tokenOne of the two

Response

Success (200)

curl https://api.ibanforge.com/v1/ch/clearing/00230 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ifk_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
{
  "iid": "00230",
  "found": true,
  "institution": {
    "name": "UBS Switzerland AG",
    "type": "bank",
    "iid_type": "headquarters",
    "headquarters_iid": "00230"
  },
  "address": {
    "street": "Bahnhofstrasse",
    "building_number": "45",
    "post_code": "8098",
    "town": "Zürich",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "bic": "UBSWCHZH80A",
  "payment_services": {
    "sic": true,
    "rtgs_chf": true,
    "instant_payments_chf": true,
    "eurosic": true,
    "lsv_bdd_chf": true,
    "lsv_bdd_eur": true
  },
  "sic_iid": "002301",
  "qr_iid": null,
  "valid_on": "2026-07-01",
  "cost_usdc": 0.003,
  "processing_ms": 0.49
}

Fields

FieldDescription
institution.typebank, postfinance, cantonal_bank, or other SIX classifications.
institution.iid_typeheadquarters, branch, or main_office — whether this IID is the institution's head office.
addressRegistered address from BankMaster (street, building number, post code, town).
bicThe institution's BIC11 as registered with SIX.
payment_services.sicParticipates in SIC, the Swiss franc RTGS/clearing system.
payment_services.instant_payments_chfReachable for CHF instant payments (mandatory for large banks since 2024).
payment_services.eurosicParticipates in euroSIC, the euro clearing system for Switzerland.
payment_services.lsv_bdd_chf / lsv_bdd_eurSupports LSV+/BDD direct debits in CHF / EUR.
sic_iidThe 6-digit SIC participant number.
qr_iidThe QR-IID (30000–31999 range) if this institution issues QR-IBANs, else null.
valid_onThe BankMaster snapshot date this record is valid on.

Not found

Discontinued or unknown IIDs return found: false with HTTP 200 — a real lookup result, not an error:

{
  "iid": "00762",
  "found": false,
  "error": "clearing_not_found",
  "message": "IID 00762 not found in Swiss BankMaster database.",
  "cost_usdc": 0.003,
  "processing_ms": 0.03
}

QR-IBAN detection

Swiss QR-IBANs carry an IID in the 30000–31999 range in positions 5–9. If you validate a QR-IBAN via /v1/iban/validate, the clearing enrichment resolves the QR-IID to the issuing institution. Regular payments must not be sent to a QR-IBAN — detecting them before payout avoids rejected transfers.

Try it

PostFinance is a nice second example — different institution type, full rail participation:

curl https://api.ibanforge.com/v1/ch/clearing/9000 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ifk_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

Or use the playground — the Swiss clearing tab runs this endpoint live.

Use cases

  • Payment routing in Switzerland — verify SIC/euroSIC participation before routing CHF or EUR payments.
  • Instant-payment eligibility — check instant_payments_chf before promising real-time settlement.
  • KYB enrichment — resolve a clearing number from a payment file to a named, addressed institution.

Next steps