Swift Bic

Detects Swift Bic patterns. This pattern is based on a Microsoft Purview built-in sensitive information type. Users already running Purview may prefer to enable the built-in SIT directly, or use this version as a starting point for customisation.

Type: regex
Engine: universal
Confidence: high
Confidence justification: High confidence: structurally constrained pattern with corroborative keyword support reduces false positive rates significantly. Added context gating and exclusion rules improve precision and reduce incidental matches.
Detection quality: Verified
Jurisdictions: global
Regulations: PSD2
Frameworks: ISO 27001, ISO 27701, PCI-DSS, SOC 2
Data categories: financial
Scope: narrow
Risk rating: 9
Platform compatibility: Purview: Compatible, GCP DLP: Compatible, Macie: Compatible, Zscaler: Compatible, Palo Alto: Compatible, Netskope: Compatible

Pattern

\b[A-Z]{6}[A-Z0-9]{2}([A-Z0-9]{3})?\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

bank account, account number, account no, BSB, routing number, sort code, IBAN, SWIFT, BIC, data record, database record, record set, data extract, data export, database table, spreadsheet, data registry, registry entry, master data, bulk export (+12 more)

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

DEUTDEFF — Deutsche Bank 8-character SWIFT/BIC
BNPAFRPP — BNP Paribas 8-character SWIFT/BIC
CHASUS33XXX — JPMorgan Chase 11-character SWIFT/BIC

Should not match

DEUT1EFF — Contains a digit in the first 6 characters (must be all letters)
DEUTDE — Only 6 characters instead of minimum 8
DEUTDEFFXXXX — 12 characters instead of maximum 11
sample data row, a test value not a real bank code — Template/sample context with no 8-character all-letter token to match the BIC structure

Known false positives

Financial terminology appearing in published reports, accounting textbooks, regulatory guidance, or template documents without actual transaction data. Mitigation: Require corroborative evidence keywords within the proximity window. Cross-reference with structured financial identifiers to confirm actual sensitive data.
In English (as the primary international business language), standard business terminology overlapping with financial detection keywords in routine correspondence and documentation. Mitigation: Increase confidence threshold when scanning business correspondence. Layer with transaction-specific patterns for higher precision.

References

SWIFT code entity definition - Microsoft Learn

Collections

PCI-DSS Card Data