China Development Bank SWIFT/BIC code

What SDBCCNBJ means for a payment to China Development Bank

If an invoice shows SDBCCNBJ or SDBCCNBJXXX, you are looking at the identical address for China Development Bank in China. A SWIFT code tells the banks handling a payment exactly which bank should receive the money. In daily life you mostly come across it on invoices from abroad, in payment forms and in the bank details that China Development Bank provides.

On this page you will find what the code means, when you need it and which other details you need for a transfer to or from China Development Bank. Remember that the SWIFT code just identifies the bank, not the account: the account number or IBAN does that part.

Where our SWIFT data comes from

Our SWIFT/BIC directory is compiled from publicly available sources. Banks reorganise, change names and change codes. Figures such as the number of codes come from our own dataset and may differ from what China Development Bank publishes.

See the information here as a helpful check, and let the details from the recipient or China Development Bank have the final say. GoldexPay has no connection to China Development Bank; we are a comparison site for money transfers. Spotted outdated information? Let us know through the contact page.

What a transfer from China Development Bank abroad really costs

A bank transfer abroad costs rather more than the fee suggests. You pay the fee for the transfer itself, sometimes charges from correspondent banks in between and, most importantly, the exchange rate markup if the currency changes.

Banks rarely list their exchange rate markup separately, but you pay it all the same. An easy check: put the bank’s rate against the mid-market rate for the same moment and look at the difference.

For a lot of routes, a transfer service is less expensive than a bank. GoldexPay compares transfer providers side by side, showing what actually arrives. Using a transfer service does not mean leaving China Development Bank.

Tracking a transfer to or from China Development Bank

There is no fixed answer: many land the same day or the next, others take several business days. Payments made after the cut-off time or just before a weekend or public holiday usually go out the next business day. Compliance checks by one of the banks can also cause some delay.

When a payment takes longer than expected, ask the sending bank for the status; with that reference banks can see where the payment is. Save your transfer receipt – you will need it for any trace request.

Only the sending bank is able to start an official trace; the receiving side usually has nothing to trace yet. Request from the sender a copy of the payment confirmation.

Paying into China Development Bank in CNY

China pays in the Chinese Yuan, with the currency code CNY. A payment in a foreign currency is exchanged into CNY before it reaches the account, and whoever converts it chooses the rate. Every conversion costs the amount – usually through the rate rather than a fee.

Who does the conversion has an effect on how much arrives, since every bank sets its own rate. Compare how much CNY the recipient gets via several services.

Exchange rates move all the time – some services let you fix a rate in advance. If you pay regularly, small differences in the rate make a real difference over time.

Before you send: check the China Development Bank code

The safest source for the BIC is the bank details provided by the recipient: an invoice, a bank statement or their online banking. Compare that code against SDBCCNBJ on this page and ask if anything does not match.

With a wrong code, the transfer may get stuck, bounce back or end up costing more, and tracing it can take weeks. A mistake in the account number can be a bigger problem, because the money may be credited to someone else; check it just as carefully.

A format check by your bank merely tells you that the IBAN is valid – not that it belongs to the person you mean to pay. Some banks now compare the payee name against the account; take any warning seriously. For a first payment, some people start with a small test amount.

Scams that use SWIFT codes

One of the most common tricks goes like this: an email arrives with a message claiming that a contact has new bank details and that the next payment should go there. A real SWIFT code says nothing about who owns the account: scammers use real codes of real banks.

Before paying, confirm changed bank details by phone. Watch out for time pressure, odd spelling or a sender address that is slightly off. Already paid? Contact the bank you paid from without delay and ask them to try to recall the payment and report the fraud.

Scams also target the receiver. Someone claims to have sent too much and asks you to return the extra via a different route. Do not act before the money has really arrived and check with China Development Bank if anything seems off.

8 or 11 characters: SDBCCNBJ versus SDBCCNBJXXX

The layout of a BIC never changes: a bank code of four letters, two for the country and two for the location, sometimes followed by a branch code. The result is SDBCCNBJ, the short form of the code.

XXX at the end of SDBCCNBJXXX is not a missing value or a mistake: it stands for the head office of China Development Bank. Certain payment forms insist on 11 characters, in which case you can enter XXX after SDBCCNBJ.

Do not add spaces or dashes when you enter SDBCCNBJ; the code is always written in one block. Pasting the code beats typing it by hand.

Receiving money from abroad at China Development Bank

If you are waiting for money from abroad, send the payer all details at once. Share your name as the bank knows it, your account number or IBAN, SWIFT code SDBCCNBJXXX and your address, which some banks require.

You can include China Development Bank and Beijing too, because some payment forms have separate fields for them. Check every detail before you send them – a sender rarely spots a mistake in someone else’s details.

Expect that the incoming amount is below the amount on the sender’s receipt. Intermediary banks may deduct a fee, China Development Bank may charge for incoming payments, and if the currency changes, an exchange rate margin comes on top. On invoices, it is common to state who bears the costs, so that nobody is left short.

Head office or branch code at China Development Bank?

China Development Bank uses 41 different SWIFT/BIC codes. One of them is the head office code, SDBCCNBJXXX; the rest identify branches or departments, and sometimes internal departments.

For most incoming transfers, the head office code SDBCCNBJXXX is the right choice. When you receive a specific code, stick to it rather than replacing it with the head office code.

When in doubt, check with the recipient for the exact BIC in their bank details. Codes are sometimes changed or retired when banks reorganise, so do not rely on old paperwork.