IBAN Verification confirms that a bank account belongs to the person or business your customer claims it does — before you register a beneficiary, release a payout, or settle a withdrawal. IDWise matches the payee details you provide (name, or a government/business identifier in supported markets) against the details registered on the account at the bank, and returns a clear ownership verdict in seconds.

Use IBAN Verification to:

Stop misdirected and failed payouts — catch typos and wrong accounts before money moves.
Prevent payee fraud — detect authorized push payment (APP) scams and mule accounts by confirming the account holder is who the payer expects.
Strengthen KYC/KYB and payout compliance — add a documented ownership check to beneficiary registration and withdrawal flows.
Reduce operational cost — fewer recalls, investigations, and support tickets from bounced transfers.

How It Works

You submit the account identifier (IBAN or local account number), the account type (personal or business), and one or more identifications for the expected account holder. IDWise checks the account directly against banking networks and verified data sources in the account's country, then returns an ownership verdict.

Name-based matching

When you provide the account holder's name, IDWise compares it against the name registered on the account and returns one of three outcomes:

Outcome	Meaning
`match`	The provided name matches the registered account holder. `account_ownership_verified` is `true`.
`partial_match`	The names are similar but not identical (similarity score ≥ 0.7) — a strong indication of ownership with minor differences such as abbreviations, middle names, or transliteration variants. `account_ownership_verified` is `false`; review the `match_score` and the returned holder name to decide.
`no_match`	The similarity score is below 0.7. The account does not appear to belong to the named payee. `account_ownership_verified` is `false`.

The match score is on a 0–100 scale, where 100 is an exact match. The partial-match threshold is 70.

ID-based matching (UAE and Saudi Arabia)

In the UAE and KSA you can verify ownership using a government or business identifier instead of (or in addition to) a name. ID-based matching returns a binary match / no_match verdict:

Personal accounts — Emirates ID (UAE), National ID or Iqama (KSA).
Business accounts — Trade License (UAE), Commercial Registration (CR) and/or Unified National Number (UNN) (KSA).

👍
KSA business accounts — send both CR and UNN
Different banks register business accounts under different identifiers. Providing both the CR and the UNN maximizes the chance of a successful match. If you provide only one and get no match, the account may still be valid under the other identifier.

Account holder name in the response

Whether the registered account holder's name is returned depends on the country and local privacy rules:

In some markets the name is returned in full (e.g. UAE).
In others it is returned masked (e.g. J*** S****), or only on partial matches to help you resolve near-misses.
In a few markets the name is used for matching but never returned.

The coverage table below indicates behavior per country.

Country Coverage

IBAN Verification covers 45+ countries. The table below lists, per country, the account identifier to send, whether a bank identifier is required, and what the response returns.

Country	Account identifier	Bank identifier	Holder name returned	Typical response time
United Arab Emirates	IBAN	—	Yes (unmasked)	5–8 s
Saudi Arabia	IBAN	—	Masked (unmasked on request)	5–8 s
United Kingdom	Account number or IBAN	Sort code	Partial matches only	2–5 s
Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, Austria, Greece, Finland, Luxembourg, Malta, Cyprus	IBAN	—	Partial matches only (Belgium: full)	5–8 s
Poland, Czechia region (SK, SI, HR), Baltics (EE, LV, LT), Bulgaria	IBAN	—	Poland: full; others partial only	5–10 s
Turkey	IBAN	—	Masked	2–5 s
India	Account number	IFSC code	Yes	3–7 s
Pakistan	Account number or IBAN	BIC	Yes	2–3 s
Indonesia	Account number	BIC	Yes	2–3 s
Malaysia	Account number	BIC	Yes	2–3 s
Vietnam	Account number	BIC	Yes	2–3 s
South Korea	Account number	BIC or local code	Yes	2–3 s
China	Account number	BIC (business)	Individuals restricted; business exact match	2–12 s
Bangladesh, Nepal	Account number	BIC	Restricted / score-dependent	2–3 s
Australia	Account number	BSB code	Not returned	2–5 s
Philippines	Account number	—	Format check only	1–2 s
United States	Account number	ABA routing number	Restricted	1–10 s
Brazil	IBAN	—	Yes	5–8 s
Mexico	CLABE	—	Yes	Up to 5–10 min
Argentina	CBU	—	Yes	2–5 s
Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay	Account number (Peru: CCI)	BIC or local code	Yes (Uruguay masked)	2–8 s
Nigeria	NUBAN	BIC	Yes	2–5 s
Uganda	Account number	BIC	Yes	2–5 s
South Africa	Account number	BIC or branch code	Existence check; name not guaranteed	5–8 s

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Business accounts in Europe
For business account verification in several European markets (e.g. Austria, Belgium, Croatia), include the company's VAT or business registration number as a registration_id identification alongside the company name.

⚠️
Mexico response times
Mexican bank rails can take several minutes to respond. Design your integration to tolerate a long-running request for MX, or verify the account ahead of payout time rather than inline.

Required Input

Input Parameter	Description
`reference_no`	Type: `string` `required` — Your reference for this check (e.g. your user or payout ID). Alphanumeric plus `- _ / \ , . + @`.
`country_code`	Type: `string` `required` — Country of the account in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 (e.g. `AE`, `SA`, `GB`).
`account_type`	Type: `string` `required` — `personal` or `business`.
`account`	Type: `object` `required` — The account to verify. See the account request model.
`identifications`	Type: `array of objects` `required` — One or more identifications of the expected account holder. See the identifications request model.
`bank_identifier`	Type: `object` `conditional` — Required in markets that use local account numbers (see coverage table). `type` is one of `bic`, `clearing_id`, `sort_code`, `branch_code`; `value` is the corresponding code.

Account request model

Property	Description
`type`	Type: `string` `required` — `iban` for IBAN markets, `account_id` for local account numbers, `clabe` (Mexico), `cbu` (Argentina), `cci` (Peru), `nuban` (Nigeria).
`value`	Type: `string` `required` — The account identifier, without spaces.

identifications request model

Property	Description
`type`	Type: `string` `required` — One of: `full_name`, `given_name`, `surname`, `national_id`, `emirates_id`, `iqama`, `trade_licence`, `commercial_registration`, `unified_number`, `registration_id`.
`value`	Type: `string` `required` — The identification value (1–256 characters).

Which identifications are accepted depends on the country and account type — see Country Coverage. In most markets full_name is required (the US requires given_name and surname). In the UAE and KSA you may send an ID identification instead of, or alongside, the name.

Verification Response

Output Parameter	Description
`success`	Type: `bool` — Whether the request was processed.
`check_id`	Type: `string` — The ID of this check, for audit and support.
`result.account_ownership_verified`	Type: `bool` — `true` when the account holder matches the provided identifications.
`result.matching`	Type: `string` — `match`, `partial_match`, or `no_match`. ID-based matching returns `match` or `no_match` only.
`result.match_score`	Type: `number` — Name similarity score, 0–1. Returned for name-based matching.
`result.account_status`	Type: `string` — Status of the account where reported by the bank: `active`, `blocked`, `closed`, `in_liquidation`.
`result.account_holder_name`	Type: `string` — The registered holder name — full, masked, or omitted depending on the country (see coverage table).
`error_code`	Type: `string` — Present when the verification could not be performed. See Error Codes.