What the Canada Bank Transit Number Validator does
A Canadian routing number is a five-digit branch transit number and a three-digit institution number, and it is written two different ways: 12345-003 on a cheque and 000312345 for an electronic transfer. This page checks that both fields are the right length, converts between the two forms, names the institution where the bundled list carries it, and explains which part is which.
It does not calculate a check digit, because there is not one. Payments Canada does not publish a check character inside the eight digits, so there is no arithmetic that can catch a mistyped transit number - a fact worth knowing before you trust any tool that claims to validate one. What can answer the question is Payments Canada's Financial Institutions File, which lists the branches that actually exist.
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How to use it
- Enter the five-digit transit and the three-digit institution number in the separate fields, or paste a combined string into the third box.
- The combined box accepts eight digits in cheque order (transit then institution) or the nine-digit electronic form that begins with a zero. Both are converted to the other.
- Read the institution name if there is one. Open the bundled list to see exactly which institution numbers are covered, so an absent name is obviously an absent listing.
- Copy both forms or export as JSON when you are setting up a direct deposit or a payroll file.
Reading the results
The electronic form is a leading zero, then the three institution digits, then the five transit digits: 000312345. It is what an EFT file or a US bank's international wire form asks for.
The cheque form is the five transit digits, a dash and the three institution digits: 12345-003. It is what is printed along the bottom of a Canadian cheque, to the left of the account number.
Getting the two the wrong way round is the commonest error, and because neither field has a check digit, nothing in the number itself will catch it. Reading the institution name is the practical check: 003 is RBC and 300 is nothing at all.
Institution numbers below 100 are the chartered banks; 800-series numbers are credit union centrals and Desjardins, and each one fronts hundreds of member branches.
Worked example: converting between the two forms
Take a cheque that shows 12345-003. The transit number is 12345 and the institution number is 003, which the bundled list names as Royal Bank of Canada. To write it electronically, put a zero first, then the institution, then the transit: 000312345.
Reverse the exercise with the electronic string 000400002. Drop the leading zero, take the next three digits as the institution - 004, The Toronto-Dominion Bank - and the last five as the transit, 00002. On a cheque that is 00002-004.
Now try the classic mistake: entering 00002004 believing it is the electronic form. It is eight digits, so the page reads it in cheque order and gives transit 00002 and institution 004, which happens to be correct here. Enter 000200004 instead and it is read as institution 002, Scotiabank, transit 00004 - a completely different bank, with nothing in the arithmetic to object. This is exactly why the institution name matters more than any format check.
Why there is no check digit
Routing schemes that carry a check digit were designed around manual transcription: the US ABA number has one, IBAN has two, the UK publishes modulus rules over the account number. Canada's routing number has none inside the eight digits. The MICR line on a cheque does carry its own protections at the encoding level, but the transit and institution numbers themselves are just numbers.
The practical consequence is that a payment sent to a plausible but wrong routing number is caught by the receiving institution, not by the form you typed it into. For a payroll or supplier file, the only real defences are reading the institution name back to the payee, and a pre-note or trial deposit before the first live run.
What the Financial Institutions File does that this page cannot
Payments Canada publishes the Financial Institutions File, which lists every institution and branch registered for clearing, with the addresses to which paper items are routed. It is the answer to 'does this branch exist', and it is updated as branches open, close and consolidate - which they have done heavily as banking moved online.
This page bundles a short list of institution numbers so that the common cases are named, and points at the file for everything else. An institution number that is absent here is very often a credit union that sits behind one of the 800-series centrals, and inventing a name for it would be worse than saying nothing.
Limitations: what the result does not prove
- Structure only. There is no check digit in a Canadian routing number, so nothing here verifies the digits arithmetically.
- The institution list is short and dated. Payments Canada's Financial Institutions File is the authority, and most credit unions are not named here.
- It cannot confirm that a branch is open, that an account exists, that it belongs to your payee, or that a payment will succeed.
- HSBC Canada's business transferred to RBC in 2024, and similar transfers leave old institution numbers in circulation for a while. A name in the list is a name at the review date, not a guarantee about today.
Privacy: where your data goes
Everything you paste, type or drop is processed in this browser tab. It is not uploaded, logged, stored or sent to analytics. Session recording and tag-manager scripts are switched off on this page.
Standards and sources
- Payments Canada - financial institutions file - checked 19 Sep 2026
- Payments Canada - clearing and settlement systems
- Canadian Payments Association Standard 006 - MICR encoding
Frequently asked questions
What is a Canadian bank transit number?
The five-digit number that identifies the branch holding an account. It always travels with a three-digit institution number that identifies the bank, credit union or trust company, and the pair together is the routing number.
What is the difference between the cheque and electronic forms?
On a cheque the routing number is written transit-institution, for example 12345-003. Electronically it is a leading zero followed by the institution and then the transit, 000312345. Same eight digits, opposite order, plus a zero - which is why they are so easy to swap.
Does a Canadian routing number have a check digit?
No. Payments Canada does not publish a check character inside the eight digits, so a mistyped transit number cannot be detected arithmetically. Any tool that claims to 'validate' one is checking its length and nothing else, and this page says so rather than implying more.
What do the 800-series institution numbers mean?
They are credit union centrals and Desjardins - 809 for Central 1 in British Columbia, 828 for Central 1 in Ontario, 815 and 829 for Desjardins, 839 for Atlantic Central. Individual credit unions clear through their central, so the central's number appears on their members' cheques.
Where do I find my transit number?
Along the bottom of a cheque, immediately to the right of the cheque number field, or in your online banking under the account details - most Canadian banks show 'transit', 'institution' and 'account' as three separate fields there precisely because the order confuses people.
Why does my institution number not appear in the list?
The bundled list holds the chartered banks and the credit union centrals. Individual credit unions, trust companies and newer institutions are not in it. An absent number means the list does not carry it, not that it is invalid.
Do I need a SWIFT code as well for an international transfer?
Usually yes. A transfer from outside Canada needs the receiving bank's BIC to reach the institution, and the transit and account numbers to reach the account. Some US banks also ask for a routing number in the nine-digit electronic form, which is why the conversion above matters.
Can this tool confirm that the account belongs to my payee?
No, and nothing free can. Confirming an account holder means asking the receiving institution, which in Canada is normally done by a pre-note or a small trial deposit before the first real payment. A format check tells you about a string, not about a person.
Last reviewed by the A2Z.Tools team against the sources listed above.
