IBAN, or International Bank Account Number, is an internationally agreed system of bank account numbering across national borders.
The adoption of IBANs in Timor-Leste will align the nation with about 80 other countries that have adopted the same standard.
One advantage of the standard numbering system is that IBAN numbers can be verified internationally irrespective of the format of the national bank account numbers.
The Central Bank of Timor-Leste’s programme to modernize the national payment system has started with a project to introduce an Automated Transfer System known as R-TiMOR. R-TiMOR will process payments between banks either in real time (RTGS) or in batch (clearinghouse) mode.
All R-TiMOR transactions will use IBANs as the common account identification system.
The adoption of IBAN will not change the internal bank account numbering system of commercial banks in Timor-Leste.
The use of IBANs is mandatory from 12 January 2015 for all interbank payments except the clearing of cheques.
All customers of banks in Timor-Leste are required to use IBANs to pay or receive interbank transfers from 8 December 2014.
The IBAN for your bank account is available from your bank. Arrangements are being made for the conversion of bank account numbers held in government databases (vendors, pensioners, veterans, and so on) to the IBAN format.
| IBAN Structure | |
| The IBAN for Timor-Leste is twenty-three (23) characters in length, constructed according to the following pattern: | |
| Digits 1-4 (4 digits) Always “TL38” | |
| Digits 5-7 (3 digits) Bank number Digits | |
| Digits 8-21 (14 digits) Bank Account number Digits | |
| Digits 22-23 (2 digits) National check digit |
| Bank Number | |
| Bank numbers are different from the bank and branch numbering scheme published by BCTL in 2009. The new bank numbers are as follows: | |
| 001 Central Bank of Timor-Leste | |
| 002 Caixa Geral de Depositos | |
| 003 ANZ Banking Group Ltd | |
| 004 Banco Nacional de Comércio de Timor-Leste | |
| 005 PT. Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk, Dili | |
| 006 PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk |
| Bank Account Number | |
| Bank account numbers are those used by commercial banks, without spaces, dots or other symbols. | |
| National Check Digit The National Check Digit is calculated according to the method set out in BCTL Circular Letter 7/2014. | |
| IBAN Examples The IBAN is presented as a single string of twenty-three characters when used electronically, and presented in five groups of four digits, followed by a group of three digits, when used in written form. | |
| For example: TL380080012345678910157 (electronic form) / TL38 0080 0123 4567 8910 157 (written or printed form) |
| Reference Documents | |
| Circular Letter No 7/2014 on the implementing International Bank Account Numbers in Timor-Leste | |
| SWIFT IBAN Registry | |
| Timor-Leste IBAN Calculator |
For further information
Contact your bank to obtain the IBAN number for your account, or Banco Central de Timor-Lesteemail: office.governor@bancocentral.tl, phone# +670 3313718 for general information.
Updated, 23 March 2017
