Ireland NSC Checker
Validate any Irish National Sort Code, identify the bank and branch, find SWIFT codes, and see how the NSC sits inside your Irish IBAN.
Ireland uses IBAN for all transfers. Your NSC is embedded in your IBAN at positions 9-14. For domestic and international transfers, just share your 22-character IBAN. Use our IBAN Validator to verify a full Irish IBAN.
6 digits, with or without hyphens (e.g. 93-10-68 or 931068)
Sending money internationally from Ireland? Wise uses the mid-market rate with no hidden fees:
Irish NSC Bank Identifier Prefixes
The first two digits of an Irish NSC identify the bank. Click any row to look up that bank's branches.
| Prefix | Bank |
|---|
How the Irish NSC Sits Inside Your IBAN
A 22-character Irish IBAN encodes the NSC at a fixed position. Here is the structure for an AIB account:
Total: 22 characters. The NSC is always at positions 9-14. BIC4 (bank code) is always at positions 5-8.
What Is an Irish NSC (National Sort Code)?
NSC stands for National Sort Code. It is a 6-digit code assigned by IPSO (Irish Payment Services Organisation) to identify a specific bank branch within Ireland's domestic payment infrastructure. NSCs are traditionally formatted as XX-XX-XX with hyphens, for example 93-10-68 for an AIB Dublin branch. They look visually similar to UK sort codes, which are also 6 digits in the same format, but they belong to a completely separate payment system.
Since Ireland joined SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) in 2008, and especially since IBAN-only transfers became mandatory in 2016, the NSC is rarely needed as a standalone identifier. Every Irish bank account has a 22-character IBAN that contains the NSC embedded at positions 9 through 14. So when someone asks for your Irish bank details, giving them your IBAN is all they need. The NSC is already inside it.
The first two digits of any Irish NSC identify the bank. AIB accounts all have NSCs starting with 93. Bank of Ireland NSCs start with 90. Ulster Bank starts with 98. Permanent TSB starts with 99. These are assigned by IPSO and do not change. The remaining four digits identify the specific branch or processing centre.
Irish NSC vs UK Sort Code: How They Differ
Irish NSCs and UK sort codes both use the XX-XX-XX format and are 6 digits, so they look identical in structure. Before Brexit, Ireland and the UK shared some payment infrastructure, and there was some overlap in how sort codes and NSCs were perceived. Since Brexit, the divergence has become more practical. UK banks are no longer automatically accessible via SEPA, meaning sending money from Ireland to a UK bank account now typically requires a SWIFT wire rather than a SEPA credit transfer.
The key structural difference is where the routing code sits within the national IBAN format. In the UK, there is no standard IBAN for domestic transfers (though IBANs do exist for UK accounts). UK sort codes are used with BACS and Faster Payments directly. Irish NSCs, by contrast, are embedded within the Irish IBAN at positions 9-14, and Irish banks do not use NSCs separately for any modern payment system.
One practical implication: if you are moving from a UK bank to an Irish bank, or vice versa, you cannot simply reuse sort code details. You need the recipient's IBAN for Irish transfers and BSortCode plus account number for UK Faster Payments.
Receiving International Transfers into an Irish Account
For anyone inside the SEPA zone (36 countries including all EU states, UK post-Brexit has partial SEPA access, and several non-EU European countries), they only need your IBAN to send money to your Irish account. Give them your 22-character IBAN and nothing else is required.
For transfers from outside the SEPA zone, such as from the US, Australia, or Canada, the sender also needs your bank's SWIFT code. Bank of Ireland is BOFIIE2D. AIB is AIBKIE2D. Ulster Bank is ULSBIE2D. Permanent TSB is IPBSIE2D. The NSC is not needed and should not be given to overseas senders as they will not know what to do with it.
Verify a full Irish IBAN with our IBAN Validator. Check if a transfer qualifies for SEPA with our SEPA Eligibility Checker. Validate UK sort codes with our UK Sort Code Validator.
NSC data sourced from IPSO (Irish Payment Services Organisation) public registry. Data last updated: January 2025. KBC Ireland closed in 2022 and is flagged accordingly.
Related Tools
Frequently Asked Questions
NSC (National Sort Code) is a 6-digit code assigned by IPSO to identify a specific Irish bank branch. Format: XX-XX-XX. Since IBAN became mandatory in 2016, the NSC is embedded within the Irish IBAN at positions 9-14 and rarely needed separately.
All AIB NSCs start with 93. Different branches have different full 6-digit codes. AIB O'Connell Street Dublin is 93-11-52. The bank identifier is the first two digits (93) and the remaining four digits identify the specific branch. Use the search tab to find your branch.
For all modern Irish transfers, you only need the IBAN. The NSC is embedded in the IBAN automatically. IBAN-only transfers have been mandatory in Ireland since 2016. Only legacy corporate systems still ask for the NSC separately.
Irish NSCs and UK sort codes both use the XX-XX-XX format and look identical, but they are administered by separate systems (IPSO vs Pay.UK) and are not interchangeable. Irish NSCs are embedded in IBANs; UK sort codes are used with BACS and Faster Payments. Since Brexit, they have diverged further.
KBC Bank Ireland fully exited the Irish market in 2022 following a strategic review by its Belgian parent KBC Group. Current account customers were advised to transfer to other Irish banks. Former KBC Ireland customers now bank with AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, or other providers. KBC Ireland NSC codes are flagged as closed in this tool.
Irish IBAN structure: IE + 2 check digits + 4-char bank BIC code + 6-digit NSC + 8-digit account number = 22 chars. For AIB: IE + XX + AIBK + NSC + account. Your bank's app always shows the full IBAN, which is the easiest way to find it. The NSC is at positions 9-14 of the IBAN.
Bank of Ireland's SWIFT code is BOFIIE2D. For domestic and SEPA transfers, only the IBAN is needed. The SWIFT code is needed when receiving money from outside the SEPA zone (US, Australia, Canada, etc.). AIB's SWIFT is AIBKIE2D, Ulster Bank's is ULSBIE2D, and Permanent TSB's is IPBSIE2D.