IBAN

International Bank Account Number (IBAN)
The IBAN concept was developed by ECBS and by the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO) and is an internationally agreed standard. It was created as an international bank identifier, used to uniquely identify the account of a customer at a financial institution, to assist error-free cross-border customer payments, and to improve the potential for straight-through processing (STP), with a minimum amount of change within domestic schemes.
　国际准账号（IBAN）不仅包括款人的帐号，同时还包款人的信息，使用国际准账号便于款准确抵达款人，在欧元区欧元国际准账号（IBAN）是必须的，另外一些国家的对不提供IBAN的非欧元款也要加手续费。目前英国还不是欧元国家，向英国款不是必须有国际准账号。但如果没有这一帐号，最好提供入的SORTING CODE（IBAN中包这一代码），这样可以加快款速度。当然如果您是通过国内中国向英国的中国款，也可仅提供款人的姓名和账号。不过如果能有IBAN是最好的，IBAN一般在对帐单上都有显示，如不清楚，可向开户询问。