BSB Number

finance.banking.bsb

Australian Bank-State-Branch number. 6-digit identifier formatted as ###-### that identifies a bank branch in the Australian financial system. First two digits identify the bank, third digit identifies the state, last three digits identify the branch.

Worked samples

DuckDB 1.5.5 · finetype 0.6.64

Value	As `VARCHAR`	`bank_code`	`branch_code`	`state_code`
062-000	062-000	06	000	2
033-001	033-001	03	001	3
012-003	012-003	01	003	2
082-001	082-001	08	001	2
063-010	063-010	06	010	3
013-252	013-252	01	252	3

Scope

Locale-specific

Locales

EN_AU

Shape

Pattern

^\d{3}-\d{3}$

Value	Length	Shape
062-000	7	matches
033-001	7	matches
012-003	7	matches
082-001	7	matches
063-010	7	matches
013-252	7	matches
062-00	6	rejected: one character short

Background

Origin

AusPayNet's BSB Lookup gives the format as XXX-XXX.^[1]

Following the introduction of the sort code in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, a comparable BSB identifier system was introduced in Australia in the early 1970s to streamline cheque clearance.^[2] Originally the first two digits of a BSB indicated the bank and the other four digits specified the branch.^[2] The first of the four branch digits was originally a state code indicating the state where the branch was located.^[2] Some of the larger banks had two bank codes, with separate codes for their trading (cheque) and savings bank entities.^[2] Wikipedia gives 03 as the code for Westpac's trading accounts and 73 as the code for Westpac's savings accounts.^[2]

AusPayNet administers the Bank-State-Branch (BSB) System for financial institutions in Australia.^[3] AusPayNet assigns the bank code to a financial institution, and the financial institution allocates the other digits to its branches in line with guidelines set by AusPayNet.^[2]

Use

AusPayNet administers the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS) for electronic debit and credit payment instructions.^[4] For transfers using the Direct Entry system, BSB and bank account numbers must be given for the accounts to be debited as well as for the account to be credited.^[2] Financial institutions are required to print the BSB and account number on cheques in MICR form.^[2] For international transfers, a SWIFT code is used in addition to the BSB and account number.^[2] The New Zealand and Australian bank code systems are similar in structure but incompatible with each other.^[2]

Bank of Queensland's Direct Entry File Specification calls the ABA format the industry standard file format for importing payment files into its internet banking.^[5] In Bank of Queensland's specification, the detail record's Bank/State/Branch Number is a seven-character field at positions 2 to 8, with a hyphen in character position 5.^[5] Bank of Queensland's specification also requires the file total record's BSB format filler to be 999-999.^[5] Normalise BSBs from different sources to one form, with or without the hyphen, before you join or deduplicate them. (Meridian's view)

AusPayNet's BSB data is updated on the first business day of each month.^[1] AusPayNet publishes the full BSB directory as text, CSV and XLS files at permanent download links.^[3] AusPayNet's full BSB directory marks some BSBs as Merged, such as 012-003, with a note to refer to another BSB.^[6] Keep BSBs as text, with the leading zero and the hyphen intact, and never let a spreadsheet turn them into numbers. (Meridian's view)

Where you'll meet it

AusPayNet's full BSB directory writes each BSB in the hyphenated form, as in 012-002.^[6]

Sources

[1]BSB Lookupdocumentation
[2]Bank state branchsecondary source
[3]Static Download Links for BSB Files | Australian Payments Networkdocumentation
[4]Direct Entry | Australian Payments Networkdocumentation
[5]Direct Entry File Specificationdocumentation
[6]BSBDirectoryFull.csvdataset

Detection notes

New in taxonomy expansion. BSB numbers are used in Australian domestic payments (BECS). The hyphen in position 4 is always present. Bank codes: 01=ANZ, 03=WBC, 06=CBA, 08=NAB, 01x=other. State: 2=NSW, 3=VIC, 4=QLD, 5=SA, 6=WA, 7=TAS.

Use it

CLI · DuckDB

$ finetype infer -i "062-000" --mode column
→ finance.banking.bsb

SELECT ft_infer('062-000');
-- → 'finance.banking.bsb'

Cast expression

CAST({col} AS VARCHAR)

Schema

https://meridian.online/schemas/finance.banking.bsb · Frictionless type string

finetype taxonomy finance.banking.bsb -o json-schema

Aliases

bank_state_branch