Canadian transit number
Canadian transit
numbers are regulated by the Canadian Payments
Association. A number has the following form:
- XXXXX-YYY
where XXXXX is a
Branch Number, and YYY is an Institution Number. The
dash between the branch number and the institution
number is an integral part of the transit number.
This format is only valid for paper-type
transactions such as cheques. For Electronic Fund
Transactions (EFT) the current format is a leading
zero, the institution number, then the branch number
all with no dashes. For example if a cheque reads
XXXXX-YYY , the corresponding EFT code would be
0YYYXXXXX.
As a general rule, Bank institution numbers start
with 0, 2, 3, or 6, Credit Union and Caisse
Populaire institution numbers start with 8, and
Trust Company institution numbers with 5.
Examples:
XXXXX-001 Bank of
Montreal
XXXXX-002 Bank of Nova Scotia
XXXXX-003 Royal Bank of Canada
XXXXX-004 Toronto-Dominion Bank (which is the legal
name for the bank, although it operates as TD Canada
Trust)
XXXXX-006 National Bank of Canada
XXXXX-010 Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (includes
President's Choice Financial)
XXXXX-016 HSBC Canada
XXXXX-030 Canadian Western Bank
XXXXX-039 Laurentian Bank of Canada
XXXXX-117 Government of Canada (Not listed as a
member of the Canadian Payments Association)
XXXXX-127 Canada Post (money orders)
XXXXX-177 Bank of Canada (Canadian central bank)
XXXXX-219 ATB Financial
XXXXX-260 Citibank Canada
XXXXX-270 JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (Toronto Branch)
XXXXX-290 UBS Bank (Canada)
XXXXX-308 Bank of China (Canada)
XXXXX-309 Citizens Bank of Canada (Canada)
XXXXX-326 President's Choice Financial (no longer
assigned, now shares XXXXX-010 code with CIBC)
XXXXX-338 Canadian Tire Bank
XXXXX-340 ICICI Bank Canada
XXXXX-509 Canada Trust (prior to the merger of TD &
Canada Trust)
XXXXX-540 Manulife Bank
XXXXX-614 ING Direct Canada
XXXXX-809 [Central 1 [Credit Union] - BC Region]
XXXXX-815 Caisses Desjardins du Québec
XXXXX-819 Caisses populaires Desjardins du Manitoba
XXXXX-828 [Central 1 [Credit Union] - ON Region]
XXXXX-829 Caisses populaires Desjardins de l'Ontario
XXXXX-837 Meridian Credit Union (formerly Hepco)
XXXXX-839 Credit Union Heritage (Nova Scotia)
XXXXX-865 Caisses populaires Desjardins acadiennes
XXXXX-879 Credit Union Central of Manitoba
XXXXX-889 Credit Union Central of Saskatchewan
XXXXX-899 Credit Union Central Alberta
XXXXX-900 ?
In a Canadian bank
transit number, the last digit of the branch number,
with few exceptions, indicates the geographical
location of the branch.
Branch numbers ending with:
0 are located in British Columbia and Yukon
1 are located in Western Québec including Montreal
and surrounding areas
2 are located in Ontario including Toronto and
surrounding area
3 are located in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island
and Newfoundland excluding Labrador
4 are located in New Brunswick
5 are located in Eastern Québec including Labrador
6 are located in Eastern Ontario including Ottawa
and surrounding area
7 are located in Manitoba and North-Western Ontario
8 are located in Saskatchewan
9 are located in Alberta, the Northwest Territories
and Nunavut (?)
For example, the number 58876-004 indicates that the
associated account is held at an Eastern Ontario
branch of The Toronto-Dominion Bank (58876 is the
branch number, and 004 is the institution number).
Through 2009, the Canadian Payments Association
website maintained a list of current and historical
financial institution identification numbers. In
2010, they removed the list from their website, and
currently only offer the information in the form of
a fee-based subscription service to their "Financial
Institutions File". for details, formats, and
pricing. The CPA does offer a comprehensive list of
Canadian financial institution branches, broken out
a) Banks, b) Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires,
and c) Trust Companies, Loan Companies and Other
Deposit-taking Institutions. Note that these lists
only cover "physical" branch locations in Canada;
financial institutions operating in Canada that do
not have a branch location do not appear on these
lists.