SWIFT/BIC codes for African banks (2026): the complete country-by-country reference

A SWIFT code (also called a BIC) is the international identifier a bank needs to receive money from abroad. If someone is wiring money to a Nigerian, South African, Ghanaian, Kenyan, Tanzanian, Zambian or Ugandan bank account, the sender's bank will ask for it. This page lists the SWIFT/BIC codes of the major banks in each of those countries, in one place, verified against each bank's own published details.

How to read a SWIFT/BIC code

A SWIFT code has 8 or 11 characters: 4 letters for the bank, 2 for the country (ISO 3166), 2 for the location, and an optional 3-character branch code. Take GTBINGLA: GTBI is Guaranty Trust Bank, NG is Nigeria, LA is Lagos. When a transfer form demands 11 characters and you only have 8, append XXX — it addresses the bank's head office.

Nigeria 🇳🇬

Fintechs like OPay, PalmPay, Kuda and Moniepoint do not have their own SWIFT codes — they are domestic institutions on the NIBSS rails. To receive international transfers, their customers typically use a partner bank's SWIFT details, so always confirm inside the app before sharing anything with a sender.

South Africa 🇿🇦

FNB transfers use FirstRand Bank's code — FNB is a division of FirstRand, so FIRNZAJJ is correct even though the name on the code says FirstRand.

Kenya 🇰🇪

Ghana 🇬🇭

Tanzania 🇹🇿

Zambia 🇿🇲

Uganda 🇺🇬

Francophone Africa: BEAC and BCEAO zones

Banks across the CEMAC zone (Cameroon, Gabon, Chad, Congo, CAR, Equatorial Guinea) and the WAEMU zone (Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Togo, Guinea-Bissau) follow the same SWIFT format — Ecobank Cameroon is ECOCCMCX, Société Générale Sénégal is SGSNSNDA. Our bank registry covers both zones with each institution's BIC and national codes; query them through the same endpoint as everything on this page.

Look any of these up by API

Every code on this page is served by the Mansa identity endpoint, alongside each bank's domestic codes, USSD shortcode and institution type — one call per country:

curl "https://mansaapi.com/api/v1/identity/banks?country=NG" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

{
  "name": "Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank)",
  "code": "058",
  "swift_code": "GTBINGLA",
  "type": "commercial",
  "country": "NG",
  "ussd": "*737#"
}

The free tier includes 100 requests/day — enough to build and test a full bank selector with SWIFT data before paying anything. Get a key here.

Common questions

SWIFT code vs IBAN — do African banks use IBAN?

Most Sub-Saharan African countries (Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda included) do not use IBAN. An international sender needs the SWIFT/BIC plus the ordinary account number. North African countries like Egypt and Tunisia do use IBAN.

What if my bank's branch has its own code?

The 8-character codes above address each bank's head office, which is correct for nearly all inbound transfers — the bank routes to your branch internally. Only use an 11-character branch BIC if your bank explicitly instructs it.

Why did my transfer bounce even with the right SWIFT code?

The usual culprits: a name mismatch between the sender's instruction and the account record, a dormant account, or an intermediary bank rejecting the currency pair. Confirm the beneficiary name exactly as the account holds it — the same hygiene that matters for domestic account verification.