Timor-leste IBAN
A Timor-leste IBAN is 23 characters long.
TL and two check digits open every Timor-leste IBAN; its remaining 19 form the BBAN (Basic Bank Account Number). Transfers into Timor-leste arrive in USD over SWIFT.
Example Timor-leste IBAN
Electronic format
TL380080012345678910157
Print format
TL38 0080 0123 4567 8910 157
IBAN structure for Timor-leste
Format reference: SWIFT IBAN Registry.
Timor-leste IBAN questions
Can I hold money in a currency other than US dollars in Timor-Leste?
Holding it is allowed. Section 7(5) of Decree-Law No. 20/2003 says no authorisation is needed to own or dispose of any amount of foreign currency, in cash or in an account, in Timor-Leste or abroad. Payments arising from contracts or other transactions made in the country must, however, be made exclusively in the official currency, the US dollar.
Does Timor-Leste print its own banknotes?
No. BCTL's guide to legal tender lists the US dollar notes circulating in the country, in denominations from 1 to 100 dollars, and says older US note designs remain valid there. The national money is coins only: centavos minted with dates from 2003 through 2017, whose designs include a border based on a traditional tais pattern representing crocodiles.
Are there rules on carrying cash into or out of Timor-Leste?
Yes. Under section 6 of Decree-Law No. 20/2003, importing or exporting cash above amounts set in the monetary authority's instructions needs prior authorisation, applied for with a fee and open to refusal, for example over a financial-crime conviction. Foreign currency moved in breach can be confiscated and forfeited if its lawful ownership is not shown within thirty days.
Timor-Leste: US dollars by decree, centavo coins and R-TiMOR
Timor-Leste has no currency of its own to convert into. Decree-Law No. 20/2003 of 13 November 2003 makes the US dollar the official currency and requires prices and payments for transactions in the country to be expressed and settled in it. Legal tender consists of US banknotes and coins plus locally issued centavo coins; Banco Central de Timor-Leste (BCTL) says the centavos, issued since 10 November 2003, are worth exactly the same as US cents.
- R-TiMOR, the automated transfer system BCTL put into live operation on 30 April 2015, links every bank in the country and the Ministry of Finance over a private interbank network. BCTL describes it as a hybrid of real-time gross settlement and an automated clearing house that can carry payments of any size.
- Here the IBAN is the domestic account identifier, not only a format for payments from abroad. BCTL required bank customers to use IBANs for interbank transfers from 8 December 2014 and made them mandatory for all interbank payments except cheque clearing from 12 January 2015. Banks kept their internal account numbers.
- BCTL's IBAN page lists seven institutions: the central bank itself, Caixa Geral de Depositos, ANZ Banking Group, Banco Nacional de Comércio de Timor-Leste, Bank Mandiri in Dili, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Banco do Nosso Futuro. A 2018 BCTL bulletin noted that Bank Rakyat Indonesia was licensed in March 2017 and then fully integrated with R-TiMOR.
Sources: Decree-Law No. 20/2003 on legal tender (English text, ADB); BCTL: Timor-Leste IBAN; BCTL: know your legal tender; BCTL: R-TiMOR goes live (30 Apr 2015).
Egypt
Israel
United Arab Emirates
Pakistan
Jordan
Bahrain