The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is an internationally agreed means of identifying bank accounts across national
borders with a reduced risk of transcription errors. It was originally adopted by the European
Committee for Banking Standards (ECBS), and later as an international standard under ISO 13616:1997.
The current standard is ISO 13616:2007, which indicates SWIFT as the formal registrar.
Initially developed to facilitate payments within the European Union, it has been implemented by most European countries
and many countries in the developing world, especially in the Middle East and in the Caribbean.(from Wikipedia)
