Pakistan IBAN Format (PK) — Structure, Length & Example

The Pakistan IBAN is 24 characters long and uses the country code PK. Pakistan adopted the IBAN standard to align its banking system with international payment norms and to facilitate remittance flows — Pakistan is one of the largest remittance-receiving countries in the world. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) mandated IBAN use for all domestic and international transactions. Pakistan is not a SEPA member, and international transfers use the SWIFT network.

Pakistan IBAN at a Glance

• Country code: PK
• Total length: 24 characters (always)
• Format: PKkk bbbb cccccccccccccccc
• BBAN length: 20 characters
• Character types: 4-letter bank code + 16-digit account number
• SEPA member: No
• Currency: Pakistani rupee (PKR)

Pakistan IBAN Structure Explained

1. Country Code — PK (2 characters)

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for Pakistan. Every Pakistani IBAN begins with PK.

2. Check Digits — kk (2 digits)

Two decimal digits computed using the MOD-97 algorithm (ISO 7064). They catch transcription and transposition errors before the payment is routed.

3. Bank Code — bbbb (4 uppercase letters)

A 4-letter alphabetic bank identifier. Major Pakistani banks and their IBAN codes:

• SCBL — Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan — a major multinational retail and corporate bank with extensive Pakistan operations.
• HABB — Habib Bank Limited (HBL) — Pakistan's largest bank by assets, with branches across the country and in 25+ countries.
• MEZN — Meezan Bank — Pakistan's largest Islamic bank and the first full Islamic commercial bank in the country, operating under Shariah principles.
• MUCB — MCB Bank Limited (formerly Muslim Commercial Bank) — one of the leading private sector banks in Pakistan.
• UNIL — United Bank Limited (UBL) — a large commercial bank with domestic and international presence.
• ALFH — Alfalah Bank — a prominent commercial bank specialising in retail and SME banking.
• NBPA — National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) — the government-owned national bank, acting as the government's banker and fiscal agent.
• BAHL — Bank Al Habib Limited — a private sector bank with strong retail banking operations.

4. Account Number — cccccccccccccccc (16 digits)

A 16-digit numeric account number. All digits; no letters appear in this field. Leading zeros are significant and must be preserved in full in all payment instructions.

Pakistan IBAN Example Explained

PK36 SCBL 0000 0011 2345 6702

This is an example IBAN for illustrative purposes only. Do not use for real transfers.

• Country: PK (Pakistan)
• Check digits: 36
• Bank code: SCBL (Standard Chartered Bank Pakistan)
• Account number: 0000001123456702 (16 digits)

Validate any Pakistani IBAN at the ibanchecker.cash IBAN validator, or see the full format specification at /iban-format/pk.

How Pakistan IBAN Validation Works

1. Country code check: The first two characters must be exactly PK.
2. Length check: The IBAN must be exactly 24 characters after removing all spaces.
3. Character type check: Positions 5–8 must be uppercase letters (bank code); positions 9–24 must be decimal digits (account number).
4. MOD-97 check: Move the first four characters to the end, replace P=25, K=20, and any bank code letters with their numeric values (A=10 … Z=35), then divide by 97. A remainder of 1 confirms a valid IBAN.

Pakistan Is Not a SEPA Country

Pakistan is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and has no connection to European payment infrastructure. All international transfers to Pakistani accounts are processed via SWIFT. Practical implications:

• Transfers require both the 24-character IBAN and the BIC/SWIFT code of the receiving bank.
• Processing times are typically 2–5 business days, depending on currency and correspondent banking routes.
• The State Bank of Pakistan maintains controls on foreign currency inflows and outflows; transfers may require purpose codes on SWIFT MT103 messages.
• SEPA Credit Transfer and Direct Debit are not available for Pakistani accounts.

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

Pakistan's Remittance Economy and IBAN

Pakistan consistently ranks among the top ten remittance-receiving countries globally, with inflows exceeding $27 billion per year from the Pakistani diaspora in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada. The State Bank of Pakistan's Roshan Digital Account scheme, launched in 2020, enabled overseas Pakistanis to open bank accounts remotely, significantly increasing formal remittance flows. These accounts require a valid Pakistani IBAN for fund receipt.

Islamic banking has a significant market share in Pakistan, with fully Shariah-compliant banks such as Meezan Bank and Al Baraka Bank Pakistan operating under Islamic finance principles. IBAN validation for these institutions is identical to conventional banks.

Pakistan IBAN and Domestic Payments

Within Pakistan, the State Bank of Pakistan's Real-time Interbank Settlement Mechanism (RTGS) and the 1-Link payment network process domestic transfers. IBAN is mandatory for all interbank fund transfers. The RAAST instant payment system, launched in 2021, also relies on IBAN for account identification, enabling instant PKR transfers between all banks on the network.

Common Pakistan IBAN Mistakes

Entering Digits Instead of Letters for the Bank Code

The 4-character bank code in positions 5–8 must be uppercase letters, not digits. Unlike European IBANs where the bank identifier is often numeric, Pakistani IBAN bank codes are always alphabetic (e.g., SCBL, HABB). Entering numbers in these positions will produce a structurally invalid IBAN.

Truncating the Account Number

The 16-digit account number field often contains leading zeros. Systems that interpret this as a number and drop leading zeros will corrupt the IBAN. Always treat the account number as a fixed-length string of exactly 16 characters.

Missing the Purpose Code for International Transfers

Transfers to Pakistan via SWIFT may require a purpose code (purpose of remittance) to comply with State Bank of Pakistan regulations. While this does not affect IBAN validity, omitting the purpose code can result in the transfer being held by the receiving bank pending clarification.

Validating Pakistani IBANs in Bulk

Remittance providers, payroll processors, and import-export businesses making payments to Pakistani suppliers or employees can validate multiple IBANs at once with the ibanchecker.cash bulk checker. Upload a CSV of up to 100 IBANs for instant validation with bank code identification, country verification, and error reporting.

For programmatic integration, the ibanchecker.cash API supports real-time single and bulk IBAN validation with full BBAN parsing for Pakistani IBANs.

Last updated: June 2026