Guatemala IBAN
A Guatemala IBAN is 28 characters long.
GT and two check digits open every Guatemala IBAN; its remaining 24 form the BBAN (Basic Bank Account Number). Transfers into Guatemala arrive in GTQ over SWIFT.
Example Guatemala IBAN
Electronic format
GT82TRAJ01020000001210029690
Print format
GT82 TRAJ 0102 0000 0012 1002 9690
IBAN structure for Guatemala
Major banks in Guatemala
3 banks in Guatemala that support IBAN-based international transfers:
Format reference: SWIFT IBAN Registry.
Guatemala IBAN questions
Do dollar and euro accounts in Guatemala have a standardised number too?
Yes. Banco de Guatemala says every current and savings account receives one, whether held in quetzales, US dollars or euros. The number also identifies the account's currency and product, so a customer with quetzal and dollar accounts at the same bank has two numbers and should give the one for the currency expected.
Where does a Guatemalan account holder find the standardised number?
From their bank. Banco de Guatemala's guidance says each bank must tell customers the number assigned to them, through statements, its website, circulars and branches. Chequebooks and savings passbooks issued after the change print the standardised number, while older ones could still be used with the previous number for a time.
Who may buy and sell foreign currency in Guatemala?
The institutional foreign exchange market: Banco de Guatemala, banks, private finance companies, stock exchanges, exchange houses and other institutions the Junta Monetaria designates. Exchange houses need Junta Monetaria authorisation and are inspected by the Superintendencia de Bancos, and every participant reports its exchange operations to Banco de Guatemala every day.
Guatemala: the cuenta bancaria estandarizada and the quetzal
Guatemala uses the IBAN format as its national account number, the cuenta bancaria estandarizada. The Central American Monetary Council (CMCA) approved an IBAN-based regional account standard in 2008, and Guatemala's Junta Monetaria adopted its own regulation in August 2011, Resolution JM-95-2011. Banco de Guatemala then registered the format with SWIFT; by June 2012, it says, Guatemala was the 59th of 60 countries to adopt it and the third in Latin America.
- The standardised number became compulsory for financial transactions on 1 July 2014, the deadline set for every bank, Banco de Guatemala included. Banks kept each customer's existing account number and added codes around it, and the magnetic band on cheques did not change. Article 11 of the regulation makes each bank tell its customers their new number.
- Decree 94-2000, the Free Negotiation of Foreign Exchange Act in force since 1 May 2001, makes holding, transferring, buying and selling foreign currency free and expressly permits foreign currency deposits and accounts. Banco de Guatemala's real-time gross settlement system (LBTR) settles US dollar operations too, including instant credit transfers through its automated clearing house.
- Article 4 bis of that law let foreign exchange institutions paying out family remittances do so only in their quetzal equivalent. Guatemala's Constitutional Court declared it unconstitutional on 15 December 2003, in joined cases 994-2003, 995-2003 and 1009-2003, and Banco de Guatemala's consolidated text prints the article struck through.
Sources: Banco de Guatemala: standardisation of bank accounts (2013); Banco de Guatemala: standardised account FAQ (Spanish); Ley de Libre Negociación de Divisas, Decree 94-2000; Banco de Guatemala: US dollar operations settled in LBTR.
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