Costa Rica IBAN Format (CR) — Structure, Length & Example

The Costa Rica IBAN is 22 characters long and follows the ISO 13616 standard. Costa Rica was an early adopter of IBAN in Central America, introducing the format to facilitate international wire transfers. As with most Latin American countries, IBAN is used almost exclusively for cross-border payments — domestic Costa Rican transfers use the SINPE (Sistema Nacional de Pagos Electrónicos) network operated by the Banco Central de Costa Rica. When receiving or sending international payments to a Costa Rican bank, you will need both the IBAN and the bank's BIC/SWIFT code.

Costa Rica IBAN at a Glance

• Country code: CR
• Total length: 22 characters (always)
• Format: CRkk 0bbb cccccccccccccc
• BBAN length: 18 characters
• Character types: 1 digit (always 0) + 3-digit bank code + 14-digit account number

Costa Rica IBAN Structure Explained

1. Country Code — CR (2 characters)

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Costa Rica. Every Costa Rican IBAN begins with CR.

2. Check Digits — kk (2 digits)

Two decimal digits computed using the MOD-97 algorithm defined in ISO 7064. They catch transposition and transcription errors before the payment is transmitted.

3. Reserved Digit — 0 (1 digit)

The first digit of the BBAN is always 0. This is a reserved placeholder defined in the Costa Rican IBAN specification and must be present for any IBAN to be valid.

4. Bank Code — bbb (3 digits)

A 3-digit numeric code identifying the financial institution, assigned by the Banco Central de Costa Rica under the SINPE numbering scheme. Major institutions:

• 151 — Banco Central de Costa Rica
• 152 — Banco Nacional de Costa Rica
• 153 — Banco de Costa Rica
• 161 — Banco Crédito Agrícola de Cartago (Bancrédito)
• 162 — Banco Popular y de Desarrollo Comunal
• 100 — Banco BAC San José

5. Account Number — cccccccccccccc (14 digits)

A 14-digit numeric account number (número de cuenta SINPE). This is the full account identifier, left-padded with zeros to reach 14 digits. Costa Rican SINPE accounts are sometimes displayed as 17-digit numbers — the IBAN uses only the 14-digit bank account portion.

Costa Rica IBAN Example Explained

CR05 0152 0200 1026 2840 66

This is an illustrative example IBAN — do not use for real transactions.

• Country: CR
• Check digits: 05
• Reserved digit: 0
• Bank code: 152 (Banco Nacional de Costa Rica)
• Account number: 02001026284066

How Costa Rican IBAN Validation Works

1. Country code check: First two characters must be exactly CR.
2. Length check: Total character count (spaces removed) must be exactly 22.
3. Character type check: All 18 BBAN characters must be decimal digits. Position 5 must be 0 (the reserved digit).
4. MOD-97 check: Move the first four characters to the end, replace each letter with its numeric value (A=10, B=11 … Z=35), then compute the remainder divided by 97. A valid IBAN always produces a remainder of 1.

The ibanchecker.cash validator validates Costa Rican IBANs instantly and decodes the bank code, reserved field, and account number from the result.

Costa Rica and IBAN: Adoption Context

Costa Rica registered its IBAN format with the ISO 13616 registry and uses it for international transactions, but domestic payments are handled entirely through the SINPE Móvil system and SINPE direct account transfers. The Banco Central de Costa Rica has operated SINPE since 1996, making it one of the most developed domestic payment infrastructures in Central America.

Costa Rican individuals and businesses conducting international trade or receiving remittances use their IBAN when dealing with European or other internationally-connected partners. For domestic transfers, they provide their 17-digit SINPE account number directly.

Costa Rica Is Not a SEPA Country

Costa Rica is not part of SEPA. All international transfers to Costa Rican accounts travel via the SWIFT network:

• Processing times of 1–5 business days
• Correspondent bank fees apply
• The BIC/SWIFT code of the Costa Rican bank is required alongside the IBAN
• Currency is Costa Rican colón (CRC) or USD — many Costa Rican banks hold USD accounts

Look up Costa Rican bank BIC codes using the ibanchecker.cash SWIFT directory.

Common Costa Rican IBAN Mistakes

Wrong Length — Not 22 Characters

Costa Rican IBANs are exactly 22 characters. A common confusion is with other Central American IBANs — El Salvador (SV) and Guatemala (GT) are both 28 characters, while Dominican Republic (DO) is 28. Always verify CR IBANs reach exactly 22 after removing spaces.

Omitting the Reserved Zero

The digit at position 5 (immediately after the check digits) must always be 0. If the BBAN portion starts with a bank code digit, the leading zero has been dropped and the IBAN is invalid.

Confusing SINPE Account Number with IBAN

Costa Rican SINPE account numbers are 17 digits. The IBAN wraps a 14-digit version of this. Providing a raw 17-digit SINPE number in an international transfer field is incorrect — your bank needs the full IBAN string starting with CR.

Validating Costa Rican IBANs in Bulk

Finance teams handling Central American supplier payments can validate Costa Rican IBANs alongside other Latin American IBANs using the ibanchecker.cash bulk checker. Upload a CSV of up to 100 IBANs for per-row validation with bank code and structural error details.

Last updated: June 2026