Does the UK use the same sort code system as Ireland?

OU812

Or vice versa?

I have an ulster bank account which is based in Newry and is sterling, and the sort code layout is the same as my ROI accounts: 00-00-00. Although, the accounts are not linked.

So is it the same because its in Ireland, or do we all use the same layout?

amber2

OU812 wrote: »

Or vice versa?

I have an ulster bank account which is based in Newry and is sterling, and the sort code layout is the same as my ROI accounts: 00-00-00. Although, the accounts are not linked.

So is it the same because its in Ireland, or do we all use the same layout?

I think UK banking use sort codes that begin with 3, so all bank codes begin in the 30's. Irish banking use 9 so all our codes begin in the 90's, if that makes sense. 93 Aib, 90 BOI, 98 ulster, 95 Nib 99 tsb.
Lay out would be the same as in 93-00-20 and you can't link up with Irish held bank account as its a different clearing system.

GerardKeating

OU812 wrote: »

Or vice versa?

I have an ulster bank account which is based in Newry and is sterling, and the sort code layout is the same as my ROI accounts: 00-00-00. Although, the accounts are not linked.

So is it the same because its in Ireland, or do we all use the same layout?

Yes, UK and Ireland use the same basic format, and there is no overlap with sort codes, Ireland starts with "9", Scotland starts with "8", England/Wales gets the rest of the sort codes.

More details here.

OU812

So, my ulsterbank account which is NI based and sterling & has the sort code 981140 is actually an Irish account ?

BuffyBot

No. We use the same format for a variety of historical reasons, but it's two seperate systems if that's what you mean.

OU812

But it uses a 98 sort code. Same as the ROI branches

Peregrinus

Ulster Bank Limited was a single corporate entity operating throughout Ireland until 2001. The bank was originall incorporated in Dublin (where all Irish company registrations happened) but following the establishment of a separate companies registry in Belfast in 1922 for companies whose registered office was in NI, the registration was transferred to Belfast. It still remained a single company, though. Thus at the time the sort code system was introduced all Ulster Bank branches, north and south, were part of the same bank, and the sort codes assigned reflect this.

There was a corporate reorganisation in 2001, and as part of the that a subsidiary company, Ulster Bank Ireland Ltd, was registered in Dublin, and the RoI branches were transferred to it.

But there was no change to the sort codes. When the sort code system was introduced in the 1960s, all clearing banks incorporated in Dublin had branches in both the Republic and NI, and the same was true for all clearing banks incorporated in NI. As far as the London Clearing House was concerned, these were all "Irish banks"; there was no need to distinguish between them according to whether the headquarters was in Dublin or Belfast. So they all got sort codes starting with 9 - e.g. Bank of Ireland got 90 - and they used them for all their branches, north and south (and for that matter for branches in Britain). And they still do.

Legislator

All Irish Banks use the same first two sort code digits (i.e. 90,93,95,98) for Republic and Northern Ireland.