Norway formats its IBAN in 15 characters with the BBAN pattern ^[0-9]{11}$: an all-numeric domestic account number, one of the most compact IBAN layouts in the registry.
Breakdown
The official registry example is NO93 8601 1117 947, a SWIFT registry test value rather than a real account:
NO93- country code and IBAN check digits8601- the 4-digit bank register number, which identifies the bank111794- the 6-digit account number7- a national MOD-11 check digit over the domestic account number
The bank register system
Norway’s payment infrastructure is coordinated by Bits AS, the banks’ industry body, which maintains the register that maps 4-digit range numbers to banks and their BICs. A single institution is typically allocated many contiguous ranges - DNB, Danske Bank’s Norwegian operation and the SpareBank 1 alliance each hold large blocks - so the roughly 2,300 register numbers in circulation collapse to about a hundred distinct banks. Unlike the Swiss or German systems there is a national check digit inside the BBAN, so a Norwegian account number carries its own integrity check independent of the IBAN checksum.
Currency and SEPA context
Norway is not an EU member but belongs to the EEA and participates in the SEPA schemes, so euro transfers to and from NO IBANs use standard SEPA rails. Domestic payments run in Norwegian kroner over the local system using the same account numbers.
Validity remains structural only. A 15-character string that passes both check digits may reference a closed account or an unissued register number, and it says nothing about the holder’s identity. Name-matching services in the style of the EU’s Verification of Payee are the safeguard against paying a well-formed number that belongs to the wrong person.