RIB, IBAN, SWIFT: which bank details to send, and to whom

Three formats for a single account. The right choice depends on who is paying and from where, and getting it wrong costs days.

By BelloCommerce

·

September 8, 2026

A customer asks for your bank details. You send your RIB; they reply that their bank wants something else. There is only one account, but three ways of naming it, and each answers a different question: where the account sits, in which country, and at which bank. Sending the wrong format does not lose the money, but it costs days and sometimes fees.

Bank account identification certificate on a desk.

The essentials in five points

The 24-digit RIB identifies the account inside Morocco and is enough on its own for a domestic transfer.
The IBAN is that same RIB prefixed with MA and a check key, and it is meant for transfers arriving from abroad.
SWIFT or BIC names the bank, not the account: it completes the IBAN, and it never replaces it.
The account holder’s name must match exactly the name held by the bank, with no improvised abbreviation.
Your details are not a secret, but the channel matters: that is precisely where bank-details fraud is won or lost.

1. What each format contains

The three identifiers nest inside one another rather than competing. Understanding what each one adds saves you from asking for them at random.

The RIB: Twenty-four digits read in four blocks: the bank code, the branch code, the account number, then a check key. This is the national identifier, the one a Moroccan bank expects for a transfer inside the country.
The IBAN: The same account expressed in the international format: the two letters MA for Morocco, a two-digit check key, then the complete RIB. It lets a foreign bank validate the account automatically before sending funds.
SWIFT or BIC: An eight or eleven character code identifying the banking institution and its country, sometimes its branch. It answers “which bank do we send to”, where the IBAN answers “which account do we credit”.
The RIB certificate: The document the bank issues under its stamp. It is the only form of your details that carries evidential weight in front of a doubtful customer or a public purchasing body.

2. Which one to send, according to who pays

The rule is simple once stated: the format follows the origin of the payment, not the preference of whoever asks for it.

Who pays	What you send
A		M	o	r	o	c	c	a	n		c	u	s	t	o	m	e	r	,		d	o	m	e	s	t	i	c		t	r	a	n	s	f	e	r
T	h	e		2	4	–	d	i	g	i	t		R	I	B	,		a	n	d		t	h	e		e	x	a	c	t		n	a	m	e		o	f		t	h	e		a	c	c	o	u	n	t		h	o	l	d	e	r

One detail costs more time than all the rest: the holder’s name. If your account is opened in the company’s exact name, an invoice signed with a different trading name can be enough to have the transfer rejected. Copy the denomination exactly as it appears on the certificate, without shortening it.

3. Sharing your details without opening the door to fraud

Your bank details are not confidential: they appear on every invoice you issue, and that is as it should be. Knowing your RIB allows nobody to take anything from your account. The risk lies elsewhere, and it runs the other way: it concerns the details you receive from your suppliers.

Put your details in the same place on every invoice, so that any change is noticeable.
Send the stamped certificate for a first significant payment, rather than a line retyped into an email.
Never announce a change to your own details by email alone: telephone your regular customers.
Symmetrically, never change a supplier’s RIB on the strength of an email, however well imitated.
Call the supplier back on the number you already had, never on the one given in the message announcing the change.

That last rule, the outbound callback, is set out with the full mechanics of the attack in our guide to bank-details fraud.

An email announcing a change of RIB is never proof

This is the most common and most profitable fraud scenario in Morocco as elsewhere: a credible message, a well-made attachment, a new RIB. The only defence is an outbound call to a number you already held. No verification carried out inside the suspicious email thread has any value, since it is the attacker who answers there.

4. Cost and delay, two things not to confuse

A misaddressed transfer is not lost: it comes back, but after a round trip that takes days and leaves fees behind it. Using the right format on the first attempt is therefore a real saving, not a formality.

The delays themselves vary by channel: an ordinary transfer, an instant transfer and an SRBM transfer neither cost the same nor arrive at the same moment. The value dates applied to each are set out in our guide to transfer times, and they hold at least one surprise for anyone who has never read them.

BelloPOS

All the features

Mistakes to avoid

Sending a RIB to a foreign customer — Their bank needs the IBAN and the SWIFT code. The RIB alone will have the operation rejected or delayed.
Retyping details by hand — One transposed digit is enough to make the transfer fail. Copy from the certificate, or better, attach it.
Abbreviating the holder’s name — The bank matches the name against the account. An improvised abbreviation can be enough to hold up the credit.
Believing a shared RIB is a risk — It permits no debit without a signed mandate. The real risk concerns the RIBs you receive, not the ones you give.

Frequently asked questions

Can somebody take money from my account with my RIB?

No. A direct debit requires a mandate you have signed and your bank has registered. Knowing the number is not enough to debit the account.

Is my IBAN different from my RIB?

No, it contains it. A Moroccan IBAN is made up of MA, a two-digit key, then exactly the twenty-four digits of your RIB.

Does the SWIFT code change with my branch?

Usually not: the first eight characters designate the bank and the country. Some banks add three characters for a branch, but the short code works.

Do I need a RIB certificate for every customer?

No. It is justified for a first significant payment, a public contract, or a customer who applies a verification procedure. Otherwise your invoices are enough.

What to take away

One account, three ways to name it: the RIB inside Morocco, the IBAN and SWIFT for abroad, the stamped certificate when proof is needed. Send the format matching the origin of the payment, copy the holder’s name without abbreviating it, and never act on a change of details announced by email without an outbound call.