The BIC codes for banks in Sonderhofen (Germany) (SWIFT code)

The sort code of Raiffeisenbank Bütthard-Gaukönigshofen in Sonderhofen is 79069031 and is used to identify the bank. The sort code is no longer used separately today. For one thing, in most countries it forms part of the IBAN, which is what you have to specify nowadays when you are asked for your account number. And for international transfers, the BIC (= SWIFT code) is always used instead of the sort code.

The BIC of Raiffeisenbank Bütthard-Gaukönigshofen in Sonderhofen is GENODEF1BHD. The abbreviation BIC stands for 'Business Identifier Code' (formerly 'Bank Identifier Code'). This is an internationally standardised code for the identification of branch offices in payment transactions. It is used by credit institutions, brokers and similar companies worldwide, and it uniquely identifies each partner who directly or indirectly participates in payment transactions. In payment transactions, the BIC/SWIFT BIC is used in combination with an IBAN (= International Bank Account Number), whereby the BIC identifies the bank and the IBAN identifies the relevant account held there.

In turn, an IBAN consists of the following components:

1. The two character country code.
2. The two digit check digit. This is between 02 and 98. Using this check digit, a single incorrect character is always recognised, individual transposed digits are almost always recognised and even with several errors, the recognition rate is still high.
3. A character string which identifies the actual account. In most countries, this is purely numerical. This is also known as BBAN (= Basic Bank Account Number). In most countries, this is the bank code and the account number.

For the fictitious account number 444440400 and bank code 79069031, this results in an IBAN similar to this one: DE99 7906 9031 4444 4040 0. To improve the readability of the IBAN, it is usually divided into blocks of four characters each. The IBAN can be up to 34 characters long, but it is shorter in most countries.

As you can see, an IBAN itself already contains a code which uniquely identifies the bank in question. For example, for Raiffeisenbank Bütthard-Gaukönigshofen, this is the 79069031. For this reason, the BIC, in our example GENODEF1BHD, is not required for transfers within Europe. The IBAN alone is enough in this case. The additional details of a BIC or SWIFT code are only required for transfers in which one of the banks involved in the transaction has its headquarters outside of Europe, and which is run via the SWIFT system.

The BIC also contains a country code. In contrast to the IBAN, this is not at the start of the BIC, but is instead at positions 5 and 6. For example, for the BIC GENODEF1BHD, this is DE. In a few cases, the country code from the IBAN may differ from the country code of the associated BIC because different standards are used.

A BIC is either 8 or 11 characters long and does not contain its own check digit. In contrast to the IBAN, a BIC, apart from its length, can only be checked by reviewing whether it is included in the BIC directory regularly updated by SWIFT. In the case of the IBAN, on the other hand, it is possible to use a mathematical procedure to check whether this is formally correct, by using the check digit contained in it. Only formally correct IBANs may exist. The question of whether a specific IBAN actually exists, however, can only be answered by the associated bank. Forged or no longer existing IBANs cannot be recognised by the check digit.

Its headquarters are Raiffeisenbank Bütthard-Gaukönigshofen in Sonderhofen. In turn, Sonderhofen is in Germany.