EISCD Data File Specification

This file specification of the Extended Industry Sort Code Directory (EISCD) explains in detail what each field means and the possible results for each sort code in the database. The data file is updated weekly by the banks and maintained by Vocalink.

Our EISCD file subscription can be purchased as a weekly or monthly download via our Customer Portal or from our EISCD API.

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GRP	Field	Field Description	Size	Data type
GENERAL	1	Sort Code	6	Int
	2	BIC – bank	8	Char
	3	BIC – branch	3	Char
	4	Sub branch suffix	2	Int
	5	Short Branch title	27	Char
	6	Short name of owning bank	20	Char
	7	Full name of owning bank – line 1	35	Char
	8	Full name of owning bank – line 2	35	Char
	9	Bank Code of Owning bank	4	Int
	10	National Central Bank Country Code	2	Char
	11	Supervisory Body	1	Char
	12	Deleted Date	10	Char
	13	Date of last change	20	Char
	14	Print Indicator	1	Int
BACS	15	Status	1	Char
	16	Date of last change	10	Char
	17	Date Closed in BACS clearing	10	Char
	18	Redirection from flag	1	Char
	19	Redirected to Sort Code	6	Int
	20	BACS Settlement Bank	4	Int
	21	Settlement section	2	Int
	22	Settlement Subsection	2	Int
	23	Handling bank	4	Int
	24	Handling Bank stream	2	Int
	25	Account numbered flag	1	Char
	26	DDI Voucher flag	1	Char
	27	Transactions disallowed – DR	2	Char
	28	Transactions disallowed – CR	2	Char
	29	Transactions disallowed – CU	2	Char
	30	Transactions disallowed – PR	2	Char
	31	Transactions disallowed – BS	2	Char
	32	Transactions disallowed – DV	2	Char
	33	Transactions disallowed – AU	2	Char
	34	Transactions disallowed – Spare	N/A	N/A
	35	Transactions disallowed – Spare	N/A	N/A
	36	Transactions disallowed – Spare	N/A	N/A
	37	Spare field	N/A	N/A
CHAPS £	38	Return Indicator	1	Char
	39	Status	1	Char
	40	Effective date of last change	10	Char
	41	Date closed in CHAPS £ clearing	10	Char
	42	CHAPS £ settlement member	3	Int
	43	CHAPS £ routing BIC – bank	8	Char
	44	CHAPS £ routing BIC – branch	3	Char
CHAPS E	45	Status	1	Char
	46	Effective date of last change	10	Char
	47	Date closed in CHAPS Euro clearing	10	Char
	48	CHAPS Euro routing BIC – bank	8	Char
	49	CHAPS Euro routing BIC – branch	3	Char
	50	CHAPS Euro settlement member	3	Int
	51	Return indicator	1	Char
	52	SWIFT data	5	Char
	53	Spare field	N/A	N/A
C&CCC	54	Status	1	Char
	55	Effective date of last change	10	Char
	56	Date closed in C&CCC clearing	10	Char
	57	C&CCC Settlement bank	4	Int
	58	Debit agency sort code	6	Int
	59	Return indicator	1	Char
	60	GB/Northern Ireland Indicator	20	Char
	61	Status	1	Char
	62	Effective date of last change	10	Char
	63	Date closed in Faster Payments clearing	10	Char
	64	Redirection from flag	1	Char
	65	Redirection to sorting code	6	Char
	66	FPS settlement bank – connection type	2	Char
	67	Padding	2	Char
	68	FPS settlement bank – bank code	4	Char
	69	Handling bank – connection type	2	Char
	70	Padding	2	Char
	71	Handling bank – bank code	4	Char
	72	Accounts numbered flag	1	Char
	73	Agency type	1	Char
	74	Spare field	N/A	N/A
PRINT	75	Branch type indicator	1	Char
	76	Sort Code of main branch	6	Int
	77	Major Location Name	30	Char
	78	Minor Location Name	30	Char
	79	Branch Name or Place	35	Char
	80	Second entry indicator	1	Char
	81	Branch name for second entry	35	Char
	82	Full Branch title – part 1	35	Char
	83	Full Branch title – part 2	35	Char
	84	Full Branch title – part 3	35	Char
	85	Address – line 1	35	Char
	86	Address – line 2	35	Char
	87	Address – line 3	35	Char
	88	Address – line 4	35	Char
	89	Address – Town	30	Char
	90	Address – County	30	Char
	91	Post Code – major part	4	Char
	92	Post Code – minor part	4	Char
	93	Telephone 1, area	10	Char
	94	Telephone 1, number	10	Char
	95	Telephone 2, area	10	Char
	96	Telephone 2, number	10	Char

Further information
If for have any queries about the Extended ISCD or the business processes that it is used for, please
contact support@unifiedsoftware.co.uk

Notes (referenced by field number)
Some field names are self explanatory and have been omitted from these notes.
1: Sort codes are allocated to every branch involved in CHAPS Sterling, Bacs and Cheque and Credit
clearings.
2 & 3: BICS are allocated to branches for international payment using SWIFT
4: Sub-branch suffix allows a branch to be identified where it belongs to a cluster of branches. 9:
Identification code of owning bank (as opposed to branch).
11: Supervisory body.
A = Bank of England
B = Building Society Commission,
C = Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man authorities,
D = Other.
12: Date from which branch will no longer be used in any clearing. From 31.3.2006 this field will no
longer be populated.
13: Date on which last change was made to any clearing groups or print information.
14: Print indicator. Not applicable. Production of printed copies of the ISCD is forbidden under the
terms and conditions of sale.
15: Bacs clearing status.
M = Bacs Member that accepts Bacs payments,
A = Agency that accepts Bacs payments,
N = does not accept Bacs payments.
16: Date on which Bacs data group was last changed.
18: Banks can ask for payments for a particular sort code to be redirected by Bacs to another sort
code. This is usually used in conjunction with the closure flag i.e. the branch stays on the Bacs
system with another sort code quoted against it to which payments will be directed. This field,
when set, indicates that it has been quoted as the redirection sort code of another branch. In other
word, this sort code will receive payments originally destined for one or more other sort codes.
19: This is the other end of the “from” flag. When present it specifies the sort code to which Bacs
should redirect payments if addressed to this sort code. This field and the preceding one should
never be set together.
20: The Bacs Settlement Bank is the bank that will settle payments for this branch.
21 & 22: Data required for Bacs to perform its settlement.
23: Bacs generated bank code that defines the member that will take the Bacs output for this
branch.
24: For internal use by the handling bank.
25: Some (very few) branches do not have numbered accounts. In such cases, this flag is set to
‘N’, otherwise ‘Y’.
26: Some bank branches are unable to accept electronic lodgment of Direct Debit instructions. A
value of ‘Y’ in this field indicates such a branch. A paper voucher is required in this case.
27 – 36: Transactions disallowed. Some branches cannot accept all Bacs transaction types. These
flags indicate which transaction types are disallowed, if set. So a branch that can accept all
transaction types will have NONE of these flags set.

Code	Meaning	Transaction types disallowed if set
DR	Direct Debits	01, 17, 18, 19
CR	BACS Credits	99
BS	Building Society Credits	Z4
DV	Dividend interest payments	Z5
AU	Direct Debit Instructions	0N, 0C, 0S
CU	Claims for Unpaid Cheques	13
PR	Will be NULL

38: Every CHAPS GBP member must specify one office to which returned payments should be sent.
This office will be identified with an “R” in this field
39: Indicates whether the branch can accept CHAPS sterling payments and whether or not it is a direct
office i.e. one of the member BICs which are part of the SWIFT closed user group.
‘D’ = Direct Office (i.e. CUG member) of a CHAPS GBP member that accepts CHAPS GBP payments
‘I’ = Indirect Office of a member or agency bank that accepts CHAPS GBP payments
‘N’ = Does not accept CHAPS GBP payments
40: Date on which CHAPS data group was last changed.
42: CHAPS ID of member that will settle payments for this branch.
43 & 44: SWIFT group to which CHAPS sterling payments to this branch should be routed.
45 – 51: Similar meaning to corresponding fields in CHAPS sterling data group, but applied to CHAPS
euro transactions.
52: This field contains two ‘sub-fields’ separated by a “/” character as follows

RTGS Indicator	This indicator will be set to ‘Y’ if CHAPS Euro is the preferred RTGS system to be used for payments to that office. Otherwise, the indicator will be set to ‘N’
Target Status	This indicator gives the Target direct / indirect status for an office. If the owning bank of an office is a CHAPS Euro Member bank AND the Country Code part of the BIC is ‘GB’, then the status will be set to ‘CHP’. Otherwise, the status will be set to ‘CH+’

If an office is in CHAPS Euro, then this field will always contain data e.g. ‘Y/CHP’, ‘Y/CH+’, ‘N/CHP’, ‘N/CH
+’
54: Cheque and Credit Clearing Company Status.
‘M’ = Branch of a CCCC member,
‘F’ = full agency bank branch,
‘D’ = debits only,
‘N’ = not in CCCC clearing.
55 – 59: Similar meaning to corresponding fields in CHAPS sterling data group, but applied to CCCC
transactions.
60: Indicates whether office is in mainland Great Britain or Northern Ireland.
61: Indicates status of bank office in the Faster Payments clearing

M	Indicates bank office of FPS member, accepts FPS payments
A	Indicates bank office of FPS agency bank, accepts FPS payments
N	Indicates bank office does not accept FPS payments. See field 63.

75: Branch Type Indicator.
‘M’ = main branch,
‘S’ = sub branch, i.e. within a cluster but sort code as main
‘L’ = linked, i.e. within a cluster but sort code different to main
76: Set for linked branches in a cluster. It identifies the main branch for the cluster.
77-96: Applies to printed directory only.

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