New Zealand bank account number

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New Zealand bank account numbers in NZD follow a standardised format of 16 digits:

Contents

While the New Zealand format is similar to Australia's Bank State Branch, the two systems are not interchangeable.

New Zealand bank account numbers in foreign currencies vary by bank.

Background

The origins of the format lay in the establishment of the Databank Systems Limited, a company set up by a consortium of competing New Zealand banks, to provide computing resources (development and operational) for the consortium members. [1]

Bank codes are coordinated by Payments NZ who administer the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS). The scope of BECS includes direct debits, automatic payments, bill payments, and direct credits. [2] Payments NZ also administer the following payment systems in New Zealand: [3]

Format of account numbers

Account numbers are generally presented in the format:

BB-bbbb-AAAAAAA-SSS

where B is the bank number (2 digits), b is the branch number (4 digits), A is the account number (7 digits) and S are digits of the suffix (2 or 3 digits). Where a bank displays the suffix as two digits, a leading zero is added to pad the suffix to three digits; i.e. BB-bbbb-AAAAAAA-SS becomes BB-bbbb-AAAAAAA-0SS.

This format allows customers to have a single account number with differing suffixes for multiple accounts of differing types. This does not include credit card and loan products.

Account number prefix

Bank accounts are prefixed with six digits, two indicating the bank and four which indicate the branch. The table below shows which banks are allocated which bank prefix. A current list of branches as their associated bank/branch numbers is available for download from the Payments NZ website.

Bank nameBank prefixBranch range
ANZ 01, 04, [4] 06 and 11 (see below)0001–5699
BNZ 020001–1299
The Co-operative Bank 021242, 1245–1250 (agency arrangement via BNZ)
Westpac 030001–1999
Heartland 03
Kookmin Bank 02Agency arrangement via BNZ
NZCU 03Agency arrangement via Westpac
Rabobank New Zealand 030001–1999
China Construction Bank New Zealand 058884-8889
National Bank of New Zealand [a] now ANZ 060001–1499
National Australia Bank 080000–9999
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 105165—5169
PostBank [a] 115000–8999
ASB 123000–3999
Trust Bank Southland [a] 134900–4999
Trust Bank Otago [a] 144700–4799
TSB 153900–3999
Trust Bank Canterbury [a] 164400–4499
Trust Bank Waikato [a] 173300–3399
Trust Bank Bay of Plenty [a] 183500–3599
Trust Bank South Canterbury [a] 194600–4649
Trust Bank Auckland [a] 214800–4899
Trust Bank Central [a] 204100–4199
Trust Bank Wanganui [a] 224000–4049
Westland Bank [a] 244300–4349
Trust Bank Wellington [a] 233700–3799
Countrywide [a] 252500–2599
United Bank [a] 290000–9999
HSBC 302900–2956
Citibank 312800–2849
Kiwibank 389000–9499
Bank of China 888800-8805
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 This bank no longer trades under this name or is defunct.

Transferwise as of 2024 uses bank prefix 04.

Account number body

The account body consists of seven digits, right adjusted and padded with zeroes if necessary. A prefix and account body combination can be validated using a modulus algorithm, [5] but the account body does not include a check digit.

Account number suffix

The table below shows the account number suffixes as introduced by Databank Systems Limited from 1969. [1] [6]

Type of accountSuffix
Cheque Account00
Number 2 Account02
Fixed Account03
Savings Account30
Credit Card Account40
Thrift Club Account50
Term Deposit Account81

Some banks (such as BNZ) include three digits of the suffix in their presentation of the number to the end customer. Other banks only show the last two digits of the suffix to the end customer. Technically, all banks have three digit suffixes, it's just that the first digit of the suffix is always 0 so it's usually ignored.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Databank Systems Limited, Computing a Nation, c1988, 16 page booklet
  2. Payments NZ website, description of Bulk Electronic Clearing System, accessed 30/05/2013
  3. Payments NZ website, list of all payment systems, accessed 30/05/2013
  4. "Bank Branch Register". Payments NZ. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  5. "Non-Resident Withholding Tax And Resident Withholding Tax Specification Document For the year ending 31 March 2016" (PDF). Inland Revenue / Te Tari Taake. 16 January 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 October 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  6. "IBAN Checker". randommer.io. Retrieved 20 September 2020.