Egypt IBAN Format (EG) — Structure, Length & Example

The Egypt IBAN is 29 characters long — one of the longest in the Middle East and North Africa region — and follows the ISO 13616 standard adopted by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). Egypt introduced IBANs to modernise its payment infrastructure and support growing inbound remittances and foreign investment flows. Egypt is not a SEPA country; all international transfers use the SWIFT network.

Egypt IBAN at a Glance

• Country code: EG
• Total length: 29 characters (always)
• Format: EGkk bbbb bbbb ccccccccccccccccc
• BBAN length: 25 characters
• Character types: 4-digit bank code + 4-digit branch code + 17-digit account number (all numeric)

Egypt IBAN Structure Explained

1. Country Code — EG (2 characters)

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Egypt. Every Egyptian IBAN begins with EG.

2. Check Digits — kk (2 digits)

Two decimal digits computed using the MOD-97 algorithm (ISO 7064). They verify the structural integrity of the IBAN and detect single-digit errors and adjacent transpositions.

3. Bank Code — bbbb (4 digits)

A 4-digit numeric bank code assigned by the Central Bank of Egypt. Major codes include:

• 0019 — National Bank of Egypt (NBE), the country's largest bank
• 0002 — Banque Misr, the second-largest state-owned bank
• 0007 — Banque du Caire
• 0010 — Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt's largest private bank
• 0009 — QNB Al Ahli (formerly National Société Générale Bank)

4. Branch Code — bbbb (4 digits)

A 4-digit branch code identifying the specific branch within the bank. Egypt has a dense branch network, especially in Cairo and Alexandria; branch codes allow routing to the correct processing centre.

5. Account Number — ccccccccccccccccc (17 digits)

A 17-digit numeric account number — the longest account field among Arab-region IBANs. The large field accommodates Egypt's long domestic account numbering format. Shorter accounts are left-padded with zeros.

Egypt IBAN Example Explained

EG38 0019 0005 0000 0000 2631 8000 2

• Country: EG
• Check digits: 38
• Bank code: 0019 (National Bank of Egypt)
• Branch code: 0005
• Account number: 00000000263180002

This is an illustrative example. Validate a real Egyptian IBAN using the ibanchecker.cash validator before initiating a payment.

How Egyptian IBAN Validation Works

1. Country code check: First two characters must be exactly EG.
2. Length check: Total character count (spaces removed) must be exactly 29.
3. Character type check: All 25 BBAN characters must be decimal digits. No letters appear in an Egyptian IBAN after the country code.
4. MOD-97 check: Move the first four characters to the end, replace each letter with its numeric equivalent (E=14, G=16), compute the number modulo 97. A valid IBAN always yields a remainder of 1.

Egypt's Banking Sector

Egypt has one of the largest banking sectors in Africa and the Arab world, regulated by the Central Bank of Egypt. The sector is dominated by three state-owned banks — National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, and Banque du Caire — which together hold the majority of retail deposits. The private sector is led by CIB, which is listed on the Egyptian Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.

International banks operating in Egypt include HSBC, Citibank, and Crédit Agricole Egypt. Islamic banks — such as Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt — operate under sharia-compliant frameworks supervised by the CBE.

Egypt is a major remittance corridor: the country receives some of the highest remittance volumes in the world from Egyptian diaspora communities in the Gulf, Europe, and North America. IBANs are the standard format for all inbound international transfers.

Egypt Is Not a SEPA Country

Egypt is not part of SEPA. All international transfers to Egyptian accounts travel via SWIFT. Key considerations:

• Processing times of 1–4 business days
• Both the IBAN and the bank's BIC/SWIFT code are required
• Currency is the Egyptian pound (EGP), which has undergone significant devaluation — confirm the settlement currency with your recipient before initiating the transfer
• CBE foreign exchange regulations apply to large inbound transfers; documentation of purpose may be required by the receiving bank

Look up any Egyptian bank's BIC using the ibanchecker.cash SWIFT directory.

Common Egyptian IBAN Mistakes

Wrong Length

Egyptian IBANs are exactly 29 characters. The 17-digit account field makes this one of the longer IBAN formats globally. A 28-character entry (missing one account digit) will fail both the length check and the MOD-97 algorithm.

Using SWIFT BIC as the Bank Code

The 4-digit numeric bank code in the Egyptian IBAN is not the same as the bank's SWIFT BIC. For example, National Bank of Egypt has BIC NBEGEGCX but IBAN bank code 0019. Substituting the BIC letters into the IBAN produces an invalid string.

Spaces in Electronic Submission

Remove all spaces when submitting electronically: EG380019000500000000263180002.

Validating Egyptian IBANs at Scale

Companies working with Egyptian suppliers, contractors, or remittance recipients can validate large batches of EG IBANs using the ibanchecker.cash bulk checker, which returns bank name, branch code breakdown, and error details for each IBAN in the upload.

Last updated: June 2026