Commercial Bank

National Bank of Pakistan SWIFT Code & IBAN Tool

The confirmed NBP SWIFT code, plus a free calculator that generates your exact NBP IBAN.

• SWIFT: NBPAPKKAXXX
• Bank Code: NBPA
• Free IBAN Tool

Written & reviewed by Dildar Hussain — 10+ years in Pakistani banking, BS Banking & Finance (NUML University) · Last updated: September 4, 2026

If you're sending or receiving an international wire, you need the exact national bank of pakistan swift code — not a guess. Here's the confirmed code, plus a free tool that builds your full 24-character NBP IBAN using the real ISO 7064 check-digit algorithm.

National Bank of Pakistan Swift Code Confirmed

Head Office SWIFT/BIC

NBPAPKKAXXX

Bank Code

NBPA

Country/Location Code

PKKA (Pakistan/Karachi)

Head Office

NBP Building, I.I. Chundrigar Rd, Karachi

Individual NBP branches — including some overseas branches, like NBP's Hong Kong operation — may carry their own 11-character SWIFT codes, ending in a branch-specific suffix instead of "XXX." If your remitter asks for a branch-specific code, confirm it with your branch. Don't assume the head-office code applies everywhere.

SWIFT/BIC and bank code confirmed from standard international SWIFT code directories cross-referencing NBP's registered BIC, and from NBP's own overseas branch pages.

Where People Get This Wrong

A common mistake: people assume every Pakistani bank uses the same SWIFT format their previous bank did, and they type the wrong bank code entirely. NBP's is NBPA — that's fixed, whatever branch or city you're dealing with — but a neighbour's HBL or UBL account will carry a completely different four-letter code. If you're helping a relative fill out a remittance form and you're not 100% sure which bank they use, ask them to check their chequebook or a recent bank statement rather than guessing from memory. A mismatched bank code is one of the more common reasons a first-time international transfer gets returned to sender.

Generate Your NBP IBAN

Enter your 16-digit NBP account number below (pad with leading zeros if it's shorter) to generate your full IBAN using Pakistan's standard mod-97 check-digit formula.

This calculator uses the internationally standardized ISO 7064 mod-97 IBAN check-digit algorithm applied to NBP's confirmed bank code (NBPA). Always confirm your generated IBAN against an official NBP bank statement before sharing it for a real transfer.

When You'll Actually Need This

Most people generate their NBP IBAN exactly twice: once when a relative or employer abroad first asks for it, and once more a few years later when they've forgotten where they saved it. Beyond wire transfers, you'll also need the full IBAN format for setting up international payroll deposits, registering with certain freelance payment platforms that pay out to Pakistani banks, and for some Roshan Digital Account transactions if you're a non-resident Pakistani managing funds from overseas. Save it somewhere you'll actually find it again — a lot of people end up regenerating it from scratch every single time simply because the original note got lost in an old chat thread. A screenshot in a dedicated folder, or a line in a password manager's notes field, both beat trying to remember which conversation you sent it in six months ago.

Why the IBAN Format Matters

Your plain NBP account number works fine for domestic transfers within Pakistan. International wire systems — SWIFT, and most banks' cross-border payment rails — expect the standardized 24-character IBAN format instead. Sending your plain account number abroad rather than your IBAN is one of the most common reasons an international transfer to Pakistan gets rejected or delayed.

A few mistakes to avoid. Don't guess at your bank code from memory — NBP's is fixed at NBPA, and typing it wrong breaks the whole check-digit calculation. Don't drop or add spaces inconsistently; some systems are strict about formatting. And confirm the generated IBAN against an official NBP statement before sharing it for a real transfer, especially the first time you send money to someone.

SWIFT Code vs. IBAN — What's the Difference

These two get mixed up constantly, but they do different jobs. A SWIFT/BIC code identifies the bank itself — which institution, which country, sometimes which branch — so the international payment network knows where to route the money. An IBAN identifies the specific account the money should land in, once it's arrived at the right bank. You typically need both for an international wire: the SWIFT code tells the system "send this to NBP in Pakistan," and the IBAN tells it "into this exact account." Leave either one off, or get a digit wrong, and the transfer either bounces back to the sender or sits in a suspense account until someone manually intercedes — which can take days to sort out on either end.

Frequently Asked Questions

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A Quick Sanity Check Before You Send

Before you finalize an international transfer, do one more pass: read the SWIFT code back character by character against what NBP or your correspondent bank has on file, not just at a glance. The letters and digits in a SWIFT code aren't random — the first four are the bank code, the next two are the country code, the following two are the location code, and an optional three-character branch code follows if the transfer needs to hit a specific branch rather than the head office. Getting the bank and country segments right matters most; a wrong branch suffix usually just means the transfer routes to the head office instead of failing outright, but a wrong bank or country code can send the money somewhere else entirely, and unwinding that takes considerably longer than double-checking would have.

More on NBP

For independent verification, see State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Stock Exchange, National Bank of Pakistan.