Decoding Chinese Card Numbers, BINs, and Corporate Settlement Cards

01 Card Organizations, Card Numbers, and Account Numbers

Card Organizations and Leading Digits

In China, personal cards are issued under the rules of a card organization (e.g., China UnionPay). The first digits of the card number identify the organization:

China UnionPay – 62

Visa – 4

Mastercard – 51‑55

American Express – 34, 37

JCB – 3528‑3589

Some cards are co‑branded (e.g., UnionPay‑American Express) and early domestic cards beginning with 9 are not internationally compatible.

Structure of a Card Number

According to ISO 8583, card numbers are 13‑19 digits (some international cards 12). UnionPay cards are usually 16‑19 digits. A card number consists of three parts:

BIN + bank‑specific digits + check digit

The BIN (Bank Identification Number) occupies the first 6‑10 digits and identifies the issuing bank and card type. Example: “622848” denotes an Agricultural Bank of China debit card.

The check digit is calculated with the Luhn algorithm, which detects common transcription errors.

Account Number vs. Card Number

Internally banks use an “account number” as the true fund carrier. The card number is merely a public identifier; when a card expires and is replaced, the underlying account number remains unchanged. This distinction is especially important for corporate settlement accounts.

02 Customer Number and Corporate Settlement Card

Customer Number

A customer number is a unique identifier assigned by a bank to a client, even if the client does not hold a traditional deposit account.

Corporate Settlement Card

A corporate settlement card is an IC card issued to an organization. It provides identity verification, account inquiry, cash handling, fund transfer, POS payment, and other settlement functions. Typically a corporate card set includes a primary card (held by the legal representative) and subsidiary cards for authorized employees.

03 Corporate Account Coding Rules of Major Chinese Banks

General Note

Corporate account numbers have no unified national standard; each bank defines its own format. The following list summarizes the coding rules for several major banks:

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) – 19 digits: region code (4) + branch code (4) + account type (2) + sequence (7) + check code (2).

Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) – 17 digits: bank code (2) + exchange number (4) + region code (1) + sequence (9) + check code (1).

Bank of China (BOC) – 12 digits: randomly generated without a fixed pattern.

China Construction Bank (CCB) – 20 digits: region code (3) + currency code (2) + exchange/region code (6) + account category (2) + sequence (6) + check code (1).

Postal Savings Bank of China – 18 digits: ‘9’ + region code (4) + check digit (1) + account type (2) + sequence (10).

Bank of Communications (BCOM) – 21 digits: region code (3) + account identifier (6) + account flag (2) + sequence (8) + check code (2).

China Merchants Bank (CMB) – 15 digits: customer number (10) + currency code (2) + sequence (3). The first five digits represent the region code, the next five the business code.

China Minsheng Bank – 9 digits (post‑Feb 2013): no fixed rule; the first digit indicates account type (6 = demand, 7 = term).

These divergent formats create routing and integration challenges for inter‑bank transfers, especially when handling cross‑region corporate accounts.