---
title: "Guides: BICs, IBANs, LEIs and payment firm licences | Elucidate"
description: "Reference guides for compliance and payments teams: how to read a SWIFT/BIC code, how BICs, IBANs and routing numbers differ, what an LEI record shows and how to check a payment firm’s licence."
url: https://elucidate.co/guides
---

Guides Reviewed 31 October 2026

Guides

# Guides to identifiers and registers

Check a counterparty with the right identifier. Each guide defines a code or a register, shows how to read it and says what it does not tell you.

## Identifiers and licences

-   [Guide · BIC How to read a Business Identifier Code (BIC) The four parts of a BIC, what “XXX” and the eighth character mean, and how to check a BIC before you use it. Read the guide →](https://elucidate.co/guides/swift-bic-code)
-   [Guide · Payment codes BIC, IBAN and national bank codes What each code identifies, how an IBAN is built, the main national codes and which ones a payment needs. Read the guide →](https://elucidate.co/guides/bic-iban-routing-number)
-   [Guide · LEI What a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) record shows The 20 characters of an LEI, registration status, reported parents and how Swift and GLEIF map BICs to LEIs. Read the guide →](https://elucidate.co/guides/legal-entity-identifier)
-   [Guide · Licences Check a payment firm’s licence or registration Find the regulated entity, search the right register, read status and permissions, and tell a licence from an AML registration. Read the guide →](https://elucidate.co/guides/check-payment-firm-licence)

## The data behind the guides

-   [Directory Directory of financial institutions Every BIC in Swift’s directory and every firm on the tracked registers, linked to the legal entity behind it.](https://elucidate.co/directory)
-   [Methodology How the directory is built The public sources, how records are matched, what the data does not show and how to correct a record.](https://elucidate.co/directory/methodology)
-   [Changes Changes in Swift’s BIC directory Institutions added, removed and renamed in each monthly file, with branch codes and LEIs.](https://elucidate.co/directory/changes)
-   [For AI agents Every page, also in Markdown Markdown versions, llms.txt, the directory’s JSON API and its MCP server.](https://elucidate.co/for-agents)

FinCrime Index

## Assess the financial crime risk behind a counterparty

A BIC, an LEI or a licence identifies an institution. It does not assess it. The Elucidate FinCrime Index (EFI) is an independent score of the financial crime risk of banks and payment firms.

[Book a demo](https://elucidate.co/demo-request) [Read about the FinCrime Index](https://elucidate.co/ratings)