Piraeus Bank SA SWIFT/BIC code

What PIRBGRAA means for a payment to Piraeus Bank SA

The short code PIRBGRAA and the full code PIRBGRAAXXX refer to the same bank: Piraeus Bank SA, with its head office in Athens. A SWIFT code tells every bank in the chain which institution is meant to get the money, a bit like a postal address for banks. You will need it mostly for transfers between countries or a currency.

On this page you will find what the code means, when you need it and what else you need for a transfer to or from Piraeus Bank SA. The SWIFT code alone cannot identify an individual account holder; that is what the IBAN or account number .

How up to date is this code?

The details here are taken from public sources. It is possible that a code on this page is out of date. The number of codes we show are based on our own data and not on information from Piraeus Bank SA itself.

For any payment of any size, always confirm the code with Piraeus Bank SA or the recipient. GoldexPay is a comparison site and not affiliated with Piraeus Bank SA. Should you notice something that is out of date, we appreciate a short note via the contact page.

Before you send: check the Piraeus Bank SA code

Ask the recipient to copy the bank details directly from their online banking. Compare that code with PIRBGRAA here; if they differ, ask before you pay.

An incorrect BIC can cause delays, a returned payment or additional charges for investigation. Do not forget the IBAN: a mistake there is more difficult to undo than a wrong BIC.

An automatic check by your bank merely tells you that the code exists, not that it is the right account. More and more banks check the payee name with the account – do not ignore a mismatch warning. A small test payment is a sensible step for a large first payment despite the extra fee.

Getting paid from abroad into a Piraeus Bank SA account

A sender in another country needs several details from you, and missing ones are a common cause of delays. In practice that means: your full name as registered with Piraeus Bank SA, your IBAN or account number, the BIC PIRBGRAAXXX and usually your postal address.

You can add Piraeus Bank SA and Athens too, because some payment forms have separate fields for them. Double-check each detail before you send them.

The amount you receive is often lower than what was sent. Correspondent banks can take a fee, and if the currency changes, an exchange rate margin applies. On invoices, it is common to agree how the fees are split.

Euro transfers to Piraeus Bank SA: is a BIC needed?

Since Greece is in the SEPA zone, a euro payment into Piraeus Bank SA from another SEPA country usually requires just an IBAN. Many banks no longer ask for the BIC for these payments.

A SWIFT code like PIRBGRAA still matter when the currency is not euros and when the money comes from outside SEPA. If a payment form has a field for the BIC regardless, entering PIRBGRAA is fine.

Instant euro transfers are widely supported across SEPA. Fees for SEPA transfers tend to be low.

PIRBGRAA or PIRBGRAAXXX – which one to use?

A BIC is made up of a few fixed parts: the first four letters stand for the bank, the next two show the country and the two after that indicate the location. In this case, the 8-character core is PIRBGRAA.

Most payment forms work with either length. If yours requires eleven characters, enter PIRBGRAAXXX.

As a rule the code is written in capitals. Pasting the code is safer than retyping it, because one wrong letter changes the bank.

Watch out for payment fraud

Criminals often send payment requests with new bank details. That PIRBGRAA is a real code is no guarantee that a request mentioning it is legitimate; criminals use the codes of real banks too.

Do not trust a phone number from the same email that announces the new account. Pressure or secrecy tend to be red flags – a real supplier can wait a day. When a payment has already gone to a fraudster, contact your bank immediately.

Fraud also work the other way: someone claims to have sent more than agreed and asks you to refund the extra to a new account. Do not act before the money is actually in your account.

What a transfer from Piraeus Bank SA abroad really costs

A bank transfer abroad can cost more than the listed fee. There is the fee for the transfer itself, possibly charges from correspondent banks in between and, above all, the exchange rate markup if the currency changes.

The markup on the rate tends to be the largest cost because it is hidden in the rate. Compare the rate you are offered with the mid-market rate, the midpoint between buy and sell rates you see on financial sites; the gap is what conversion costs you.

For many currency pairs, a specialist provider turns out to be cheaper than a bank, mainly because of the exchange rate. Next time you send money, it is worth comparing the total cost via GoldexPay. You can always use your account at Piraeus Bank SA to fund the transfer, while a cheaper service handles the conversion.

Which of the 3 codes of Piraeus Bank SA do you need?

Piraeus Bank SA has 3 different SWIFT/BIC codes. Only one is the head office code; the rest identify branches or departments, and sometimes specific services.

In most cases you do not need to pick a branch: payments addressed to PIRBGRAAXXX are routed within Piraeus Bank SA correctly. When you receive a branch code, stick to it rather than swapping it with the head office code.

When in doubt, ask the person you are paying which code their bank gave them. Branch codes can change over time, so a code from an old document is not always valid.

Tracking a transfer to or from Piraeus Bank SA

There is no single delivery time for international payments: some arrive the same day or the next. Transfers sent after the cut-off time or just before weekends and holidays often go out the next business day. Sometimes a bank asks about the purpose of a payment.

Many banks use SWIFT gpi for faster and traceable payments. Each gpi transfer carries a unique transaction reference, the UETR that banks can use to trace it. Save the payment confirmation until the money has arrived.

A delayed transfer has to be traced by the sending bank, using the payment confirmation. Ask the sender for a copy of the payment confirmation including the reference.

Euro (EUR) and conversion costs

The currency of Greece is the Euro (EUR). When you pay another currency it has to be converted somewhere along the way – by your bank, by Piraeus Bank SA or by a bank in between. There is rarely a separate line for the conversion.

Which bank converts the money matters. Check how much EUR arrives via different providers.

The rate for EUR changes throughout the day. On larger amounts, a seemingly small difference in the rate can be worth more than the fee.