Ecobank Sort Code in Nigeria: How to Find Yours

This page used to list a sort code for every Ecobank branch in Nigeria. We have taken that list down. We could not check it against any official source, and parts of it were wrong. Ecobank does not publish its branch sort codes anywhere we could read, and neither does the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

The code to trust is the one printed on your own cheque leaf, or the one the bank gives you for your branch. A wrong sort code on a form does more harm than a missing one, so here is how to get the right one.

How to find your Ecobank sort code

On your cheque leaf

The CBN’s cheque rules make the sort code part of every cheque. Its guidelines describe a line of numbers printed in magnetic ink near the bottom of the leaf, which can carry the bank’s routing number, the account number and the cheque number. Look along that line for a group of nine digits beginning 050. That is your sort code.

From your branch

If you have no cheque book, ask the branch that holds your account. A sort code belongs to a branch, so the one you need is for the branch where the account is kept, which may not be the one nearest to you.

Ecobank makes this easier than the other banks we looked at. It publishes a branch directory for Nigeria that gives each branch’s address and, for most of them, a named contact with a phone number and an Ecobank email address. It is one of the downloads on Ecobank’s Nigeria page. The directory has no sort codes in it, but it puts you in touch with the people who can give you yours.

From Ecobank’s contact centre

The bank’s Ecobank Assist page offers contact by phone or online at any hour. Pick Nigeria from its country list, ask for the sort code of your account’s branch, and have the account number to hand.

We found no Ecobank page saying that its app or its USSD menu shows the sort code, so we have left both out.

If your branch has closed or moved

Do not reuse the old branch’s code from memory or from a list. Ask the bank which branch holds your account now, and what that branch’s code is.

How a sort code is built

The CBN sets the format in its standards on bank account numbers. A bank’s sort code is nine digits long and has four parts:

1. Three digits for the bank. The CBN assigns each bank its code.
2. Two digits for the state the branch is in.
3. Three digits for the branch.
4. One check digit, worked out from the other eight by a set formula.

The first three digits are the bank. The CBN’s own paper on the account-number scheme lists each bank’s code, and Ecobank’s is 050.

With that you can test any code you are given. It should have nine digits and begin with 050, and its fourth and fifth digits should be the code of the state the branch is in. An Ecobank branch in Lagos should have a code that starts 050 15. One in Abuja should start 050 08.

A code that passes is not proved right. The test only catches the obvious mistakes.

CBN state codes

These are the state codes the CBN gave the banks. They are the fourth and fifth digits of a sort code.

Why old sort code lists cannot be trusted

On 7 November 2018 the CBN sent a circular to every bank and to NIBSS. It told them that each branch’s sort code must carry the code of the state the branch is in, set out the table above, and said that banks which kept using another state’s code would be sanctioned.

Our list was published in October 2018, a few weeks earlier. It showed nine of Ecobank’s Delta State branches with Adamawa’s state code, and all five of its Benin branches with Delta’s. It also filed the Port Harcourt branches under Plateau. Under the circular, codes like those had to change.

The same list is still copied around the internet, mistakes included. A code that was right for a branch before November 2018 may have been replaced since, and nobody outside the bank can tell you which ones were. A list that is mostly right is the dangerous kind, because nothing about it looks wrong.

Ecobank Nigeria today

The bank trades as Ecobank Nigeria Limited, with its head office at Plot 270B1 Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos. It counts more than 250 branches and over 60,000 agency banking locations. By its own account, the last bank it took over was Oceanic Bank.

For a branch’s address, use the directory above or Ecobank’s branch and ATM locator.

We have the same guide for Union Bank, Sterling Bank and FCMB.

Quick answers

What is the Ecobank sort code for Lagos?

There is no single code for Lagos. Every branch has its own nine-digit code. A Lagos branch’s code should begin 050 and have 15 as its fourth and fifth digits.

What is the Ecobank sort code for Abuja, Port Harcourt or Uyo?

The same applies: one code for each branch. Abuja’s state code is 08, Rivers’ is 21 and Akwa Ibom’s is 01, so those are the digits to expect after 050.

Which Ecobank sort code do I use for a transfer?

The one for the branch that holds the account the form is asking about. Take it from that account’s cheque leaf, or ask the branch.

Is the sort code the same as the bank code?

No. The bank code is only the first three digits. The sort code is all nine, and it differs from branch to branch.

Is this the same as Ecobank’s sort code in Ghana?

No. This page is about Ecobank Nigeria. The format and the state codes here are the CBN’s, and they apply to branches in Nigeria only.