Abbey National Treasury Services PLC SWIFT/BIC code

Abbey National Treasury Services PLC SWIFT code: ANFPGB21

ANFPGB21 and ANFPGB21XXX are the short and the long form of the same SWIFT/BIC code, and both point to Abbey National Treasury Services PLC in London. The code has a single purpose: it ensures that an international payment ends up at the right bank. In practice you mostly see the code on international invoices, in your banking app and on the account details of Abbey National Treasury Services PLC customers.

Below you will find the practical side: money coming in from abroad, sending money abroad and how to check the code before you hit send. The SWIFT code on its own cannot identify an individual account holder; for that you need the IBAN or account number is for.

Sending GBP to Abbey National Treasury Services PLC

Most accounts at Abbey National Treasury Services PLC are usually held in GBP, the national currency. When you pay another currency gets converted at some point. You rarely see a separate line for the conversion – the cost sits in the rate.

Who does the conversion affects the final amount. Check what GBP arrives via several services.

Exchange rates change all the time. If you pay regularly, a slightly better rate add up over a year.

Do you need ANFPGB21 for a SEPA transfer?

United Kingdom is part of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), the zone for standardised euro payments. For a regular euro transfer within SEPA, the IBAN is usually enough; many banks no longer ask for the BIC.

Outside the euro and from non-SEPA countries, ANFPGB21XXX or ANFPGB21 is still required. If a payment form has a field for the BIC regardless, entering ANFPGB21 does no harm.

Instant euro transfers are widely available across SEPA; check with Abbey National Treasury Services PLC whether it applies to your account. Provided no currency is converted, a SEPA transfer is inexpensive; it is the conversion that costs money.

Why Abbey National Treasury Services PLC has an 8- and an 11-character code

Each SWIFT/BIC code has the same eight core characters: a four-letter bank code, two letters for the country and a two-character location code. For Abbey National Treasury Services PLC, that core is ANFPGB21.

XXX at the end of ANFPGB21XXX does not stand for a missing value or an error: it stands for the head office of Abbey National Treasury Services PLC. Some banking apps ask for 11 characters, in which case you simply add XXX behind ANFPGB21.

Leave out spaces, dots when you enter ANFPGB21. Look out for O versus 0 and I versus 1; they are easy to mix up.

Tracking a transfer to or from Abbey National Treasury Services PLC

How fast a transfer reaches Abbey National Treasury Services PLC depends on a few things: the currency, how many intermediary banks are involved, cut-off times and time zones. Payments made after the cut-off time or on weekends and holidays usually go out the next business day. Occasionally a bank wants to know about the purpose of a payment, which can hold things up.

Many banks are connected to SWIFT gpi, which lets them follow a payment from bank to bank. Each gpi transfer gets a unique transaction reference, the UETR that banks can use to trace it. Keep the payment confirmation – you will need it for any trace request.

If the money does not arrive within the expected time, the sender should contact the bank that sent it. On the receiving end, you can look at your account for a slightly lower amount because fees can reduce the amount.

Receiving money from abroad at Abbey National Treasury Services PLC

Someone abroad who wants to pay you needs a few details from you. In practice that means: your full name exactly as it appears on the account, your IBAN or account number, the BIC ANFPGB21XXX and usually your postal address.

Certain banks want the name and address of Abbey National Treasury Services PLC; it does no harm to include it. Check the details before you send them, because the sender’s bank usually copies them as is.

Money from abroad will not always land for the full amount. Intermediary banks may deduct a fee, and if the money is converted, an exchange rate margin comes on top. Make clear with the sender who covers the fees.

How up to date is this code?

The codes on this page come from publicly available data which we refresh regularly. Institutions reorganise, change names and change codes, and a directory never catches every change immediately. The figures we show are based on what is in our directory and not on information from Abbey National Treasury Services PLC itself.

Treat our data as a reference, not as the last word. GoldexPay has no connection to Abbey National Treasury Services PLC. Found an error? Let us know through the contact page.

Which of the 9 codes of Abbey National Treasury Services PLC do you need?

Abbey National Treasury Services PLC uses 9 different SWIFT/BIC codes. Only one is the head office code, ANFPGB21XXX; the others belong to branches, and sometimes internal departments.

In most cases there is no need to look up a branch: transfers addressed to ANFPGB21XXX reach Abbey National Treasury Services PLC correctly. A branch code only makes sense if the recipient’s bank specifically asks for it, which is more common for corporate accounts and specialised services.

The safest approach is to take the code straight from the recipient’s invoice. Codes for branches are more prone to be retired than ANFPGB21XXX.

Paying someone abroad from your Abbey National Treasury Services PLC account

What you pay for a payment abroad is made up of several parts. You pay the fee for the transfer itself, possibly charges from correspondent banks along the way and, above all, the exchange rate markup when the money is converted.

Many banks rarely show the margin on the rate separately. Check the rate you are offered against the mid-market rate – the rate you find on financial news sites. The difference is your real conversion cost.

For many routes, a transfer service is cheaper than a bank – mostly thanks to the rate. Next time you send money, take a minute comparing the total cost via GoldexPay. You can always keep your account at Abbey National Treasury Services PLC; only the conversion and sending happen elsewhere.

Scams that use SWIFT codes

Scammers often send payment requests containing changed bank details, sometimes in an email that looks completely genuine. A valid SWIFT code tells you nothing about who owns the account – scammers simply use real codes.

Check changed payment details through a separate channel, such as a phone number you already know, not by replying to the message. Be suspicious of time pressure, unusual wording or a sender address that is slightly off. When money has already gone to the wrong account, contact your bank immediately: the sooner they act, the better the chance of a recall.

Scams also target the receiver. Someone claims to have sent too much and wants you to return the extra to a new account. A payment confirmation from the sender proves nothing.

Before you send: check the Abbey National Treasury Services PLC code

The best place to find the correct BIC remains a document from the bank itself. If the code you have does not match ANFPGB21 or ANFPGB21XXX, stop and ask.

If the code is wrong, the payment might get stuck, be returned or end up costing more, and tracing it can take weeks. An error in the account number is more serious, so check that just as carefully.

Most online banking apps check the structure of an IBAN, but that does not prove the account belongs to the right person. More and more banks check the payee name with the account before you confirm; take any warning seriously. When you pay someone new, some people start with a small amount first before sending the rest.