Bank Account FAQ

How To Access The Bank Account Information in Your Dashboard

Click on the Grantee Dashboard at the top.  Then, select Proposals/Grants to view your currently open items.  

If you need to be provided access to a grant, please contact [email protected]. Include the specific grant number & relevant information about your organization.

How To Create Bank Information in Your Profile

Select Bank Accounts tab at the top & enter the required fields.  

Checkmark the box for 'bank account is valid.'

Click Save.

How to Add a New Bank

Click on the Profile tab and select Bank Accounts.

If you would like to add a new Bank information please click on the New.

Fill out the required fields then click save.

Updating Your Bank Account

If the change you are making is to the account number, it is better to make a new record for the new account. Otherwise, the below steps will allow you to amend the record.

From your Dashboard, select the account you wish to update and click the Amend icon to the left.

Click OK to create the record.

Enter the new data that should be reflected in the record.

Click Review/Submit and then Submit to make the request to update the record.

What are Swift and ABA Codes?

ABA and SWIFT codes convey what bank a wire should be sent to.

An ABA number (also known as routing number or routing transfer  number) is a sequence of nine numeric characters used by banks to  identify specific financial institutions within the United States.

Swift Code is a standard format of Bank Identifier Codes (BIC) and it  is unique identification code for a particular bank. These codes are  used when transferring money between banks, particularly for  international wire transfers. Banks also used the codes for exchanging  other messages between them.

 

What does an ABA look like? Is it the same as the routing number?

Banks located in the United States use ABA or routing codes. An ABA code is 9 digits, all numbers.

Examples:

Bank of America (wires to all branches)= 026009593

JP Morgan Chase (New York branch)= 021000021

JPMorgan Chase (California branch)= 322271627

As you can infer from the examples, some banks have a universal ABA  for all branches, while other banks may use different ABA’s for  different branches.  Therefore, don’t be surprised if two wires to the  same bank may have two different ABA numbers.

What does a SWIFT code look like? Is it the same as a BIC number?

SWIFT codes are 8 or 11 digits usually have the following format:

BBBBCCkk

OR

BBBBCCkkXXX

Where

C= The Country Code (Examples: GB for the United Kingdom, DE for Germany, FR for France)

k= The  “check” code, two digits or letters (there is an algorithm for how to  determine the check code, but it’s so mind-numbingly esoteric it’s not  worth going into here)

B= The  Bank Information Code (or “BIC”).  It is usually a 4-letter abbreviation  of the bank (Examples: BARC for Barclays, LOYD for Lloyds, CITI for  Citibank).  

Do note that sometimes the four letters don’t look at the bank at all  (For example:  MIDL for HSBC bank, which is due to the fact that  Midland Bank was bought out by HSBC, but they never bothered to change  the BIC)

X= The  Branch code (optional).  This is a 3-digit combination of numbers and/or  letters, or simply “XXX” if it’s the main branch.  If the SWIFT code is  only 8 digits and the branch code is left of, we in finance know that  “XXX” is implied.

An example of some SWIFT codes:

BARCGB22XXX (This is going to Barclays in the United Kingdom, main branch)

BARCGB22  (essentially the same as the one above it)

BARCGB2103B (This is also going to Barclays in the United Kingdom, but specifies a branch)

See http://www.theswiftcodes.com/ to confirm SWIFT Code.

 

What if I only have a SWIFT code for a US Bank?

If your bank has only provided you with SWIFT information such as:

CHASUS33 (JP Morgan Chase)

CITIUS33 (Citibank)

Our finance department is often able to use this information to look  up the ABA number, but if no ABA is available, a SWIFT can be used.

What if my US Bank (or Credit Union) doesn't have a SWIFT code?

If your bank or credit union does NOT have a SWIFT or BIC code, then use the following in the field:

CREDITUNION

What does an account number look like?

The format varies from bank to bank, but is usually 6-26 digits, mostly numbers but on rare occasions use letters.

What is an IBAN?

An IBAN stands for International Bank Account Number, and is a coding  system meant to supplant account codes for international wires.  IBAN  codes provide more detailed information than normal account numbers and  usually have less risk in transcription errors.

For wires to US banks (from other US banks, which is the case with US), IBANs are not used.  

For wires to European banks and some other banks, the IBAN is required. Follow these external links to see where IBAN is mandatory and recommended.

The format of an IBAN number varies by country, and a complete list can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBAN#List_of_valid_IBANs_by_country

Don’t be overwhelmed by this listyou need not memorize every format  of IBAN.  The important takeaway is understanding roughly what it looks  like so you can find it on the mess of numbers your vendor, consultant,  or grantee gives you from their bank: an IBAN number is usually a 15-31  digit mixture of numbers or letters, with the first two letters being a  country code.  

Some generic examples to get a feel for what they look like:

GB22 BARC 1234 5612 3456 78 (United Kingdom)

FR12 1234 5123 4512 3456 7890 012 (France)

RO80 BRDE 123S V123 4567 8901 (Romania)

What is a Sort Code?

Banks in the UK require one additional piece of information for a wire to go through: a 6 digit code called a Sort Code.

In theory, a bank should be able to determine the Sort Code from the  IBAN number: it is digits 9-14 of the IBAN.  So if the IBAN is GB22 BARC 1234 5612 3456 78, the Sort code will be 12-34-56.

In practice, the banks are never that proactive, and are known to  reject wires for missing a Sort Code even though they have the IBAN.   For this reason it is best practice to be redundant and include the  Sort Code as a separate line.

What is a Transit Code?

A Transit Number is used while doing financial transactions with  Canadian Banks. The 8 digit Transit Number identifies the beneficiary  financial institution and the branch to which a payment is being  initiated. A Transit Number is essential for making payments through the  Canadian clearing system.