Overview
A bank lookup API for KYB, payments and vendor onboarding. One registry joins the FDIC BankFind data (all ~28,000 bank charters, active, merged, failed and closed) with NCUA credit union filings, then attaches the routing numbers and SWIFT codes we hold for each active institution. Every match carries its status and status date, the establishment date, headquarters address and coordinates, website, regulator, FDIC certificate or NCUA charter and RSSD id. Look up a routing number and routingCheck tells you whether it still belongs to an active institution. Look up an IBAN or a SWIFT code outside the US and you get the bank from our SWIFT directory. Paid plans add the successor for merged charters, failure details for failed banks, the LEI, quarterly total assets, deposits, net income and credit union membership, plus branches=true for the branch list.
Live Test Bank Lookup Source →
Formula
One function covers the whole catalog: the first argument names the source, the next are its inputs, and the field after them says which single value lands in the cell. Formulas covers the grammar that applies to all of them.
=VERVE("banklookup", "count")=VERVE.CALL("banklookup", "count")Inputs
Required inputs are positional, in the order below, followed by the field. Everything else is passed as a "name", value pair after that — the same shape as SUMIFS. Premium inputs are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.
| Input | Type | Where it goes | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
nameOptional | string | "name", value | Institution name or part of it; former and trade names match too length 0–120 |
idOptional | string | "id", value | Our institution id, e.g. fdic-3511 or ncua-5536 length 0–30 |
fdicCertOptional | string | "fdicCert", value | FDIC certificate number length 0–10 |
ncuaCharterOptional | string | "ncuaCharter", value | NCUA credit union charter number length 0–10 |
routingOptional | string | "routing", value | Nine-digit ABA routing number length 9–9 |
swiftOptional | string | "swift", value | SWIFT/BIC code (8 or 11 characters); non-US codes answer from our SWIFT directory length 8–11 |
leiOptional | string | "lei", value | Legal Entity Identifier (20 characters) length 20–20 |
domainOptional | string | "domain", value | Website domain, URL or email address of the institution length 0–253 |
ibanOptional | string | "iban", value | IBAN; names the bank where the IBAN carries a BIC-style bank code (GB, IE, NL and others) length 0–42 |
stateOptional | string | "state", value | Two-letter US state of the headquarters, to narrow a name search length 2–2 |
typeOptional | string | "type", value | Narrow a name search to one institution typebanksavings_institutioncredit_union |
statusOptional | string | "status", value | active, inactive (merged, failed or closed) or any; any searches active institutions first and falls back to closed onesanyactiveinactivedefault any |
countryOptional | string | "country", value | Two-letter country code; a non-US country searches banks by name in our SWIFT directory length 2–2 |
branchesOptionalPremium | boolean | "branches", value | Include the branch list for the first five institutions |
limitOptional | integer | "limit", value | Maximum institutions to return (1-50) default 10 · range 1–50 |
Passing an option
=VERVE("banklookup", "count", "name", "Wells Fargo")=VERVE.CALL("banklookup", "count", "name", "Wells Fargo")What lands in your sheet
The field — the argument after the inputs — is what makes the formula resolve to one cell. Its value is a dot-path from the table below, so swapping it is how you pull a different value — one formula per column.
Seeing everything at once
Leave the field out and the formula returns the whole response instead: two columns, field name on the left and value on the right, spilling from the cell you typed in.
=VERVE("banklookup")=VERVE.CALL("banklookup")The second row's table would land on top of the first's, and every cell after the first reads #REF! (#SPILL! in Excel). Keep one per sheet, or name a field, and leave the cells below and to the right empty.
Response fields
Paths are relative to data. Each one is exactly what the field argument accepts, so swapping it is how you pull a different value into a cell. On a plan without a Premium field the cell reads #PREMIUM(field) rather than a value, so a locked field never looks like a real answer.
| Use as the field | Type | Example cell value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
count | number | 1 | Number of institutions returned |
totalMatches | number | 3 | Number of institutions that matched before the limit |
banks | array[1] | ||
banks.0.id | string | fdic-3511 | Our identifier for the institution: fdic-<FDIC certificate> for banks and savings institutions, ncua-<charter> for credit unions, swift-<BIC8> for banks outside the US |
banks.0.name | string | Wells Fargo Bank, National Association | Legal name of the institution |
banks.0.aliases | array | ["Crocker National Bank","Crocker-Citizens National Bank","Crocker-Anglo National Bank"] | Former names (FDIC) or trade names (NCUA) |
banks.0.type | string | bank | bank, savings_institution or credit_union |
banks.0.charterClass | string | National bank (OCC) | Charter class in words, e.g. National bank (OCC) or Federal credit union; null for non-US banks |
banks.0.status | string | active | active, merged (absorbed into another charter), failed (closed by regulators) or closed (any other closure); null for non-US banks |
banks.0.statusDate | object | null | Date (YYYY-MM-DD) the institution stopped operating under this charter; null while active |
banks.0.successorPremium | object | null | For a merged charter, the institution that absorbed it ({name, id}); null otherwise |
banks.0.establishedDate | string | 1870-01-01 | Date the institution was established (FDIC) or chartered (NCUA), YYYY-MM-DD |
banks.0.foundedYear | number | 1870 | Year the institution was established |
banks.0.address | string | 3201 N 4th Ave | Street address of the headquarters or main office |
banks.0.city | string | Sioux Falls | City of the headquarters |
banks.0.state | string | SD | Two-letter state of the headquarters |
banks.0.zip | string | 57104 | Five-digit ZIP code of the headquarters |
banks.0.county | string | Minnehaha | County of the headquarters |
banks.0.country | string | US | ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code |
banks.0.latitude | number | 43.580844403981 | Latitude of the headquarters (FDIC geocode, or the ZIP centroid for credit unions) |
banks.0.longitude | number | -96.722917126828 | Longitude of the headquarters |
banks.0.coordinatesSource | string | fdic | fdic when FDIC geocoded the address, zip_centroid when the point is the ZIP code centre |
banks.0.website | string | https://www.wellsfargo.com | Primary website the institution reports to its regulator |
banks.0.domain | string | wellsfargo.com | Bare domain of the website, the key the domain parameter matches |
banks.0.phone | object | null | Main office phone number, (XXX) XXX-XXXX; credit unions only (FDIC publishes none) |
banks.0.regulator | string | OCC | Primary federal regulator: OCC, FED, FDIC, OTS (historical) or NCUA |
banks.0.insurer | string | FDIC | Deposit insurer: FDIC or NCUA |
banks.0.fdicCert | number | 3511 | FDIC certificate number; null for credit unions |
banks.0.ncuaCharter | object | null | NCUA charter number; null for banks |
banks.0.rssdId | number | 451965 | Federal Reserve RSSD id |
banks.0.leiPremium | string | KB1H1DSPRFMYMCUFXT09 | Legal Entity Identifier the institution reports to the FDIC |
banks.0.holdingCompany | string | WELLS FARGO&COMPANY | Name of the top holding company, if any |
banks.0.routingNumbers | array | ["121000248"] | Active ABA routing numbers matched to this institution from the Federal Reserve directory |
banks.0.swiftCodes | array | ["WFBIUS6S"] | SWIFT/BIC codes matched to this institution |
banks.0.branchCount | number | 4161 | Number of domestic offices (banks) or reported sites (credit unions) |
banks.0.totalAssetsPremium | number | 1907928000000 | Total assets in US dollars at the latest quarterly filing |
banks.0.totalDepositsPremium | number | 1563534000000 | Total deposits (banks) or shares and deposits (credit unions) in US dollars |
banks.0.netIncomeYtdPremium | number | 12808000000 | Year-to-date net income in US dollars at the latest filing (banks) |
banks.0.membersPremium | object | null | Number of members (credit unions) |
banks.0.financialsAsOf | string | 2026-06-30 | Quarter-end date (YYYY-MM-DD) the financial figures come from |
banks.0.failurePremium | object | null | For a failed bank: date, acquirer, resolution and size at failure; null otherwise |
routingCheck | object | null | Routing number status when routing was given; null otherwise |
ibanCheck | object | null | Parsed IBAN when iban was given; null otherwise |
When a cell doesn't fill
A failed lookup returns readable text starting with #ERR rather than a spreadsheet error, because Excel cannot show a custom message on a real error — you would get a bare #VALUE! with no reason. The trade-off is that IFERROR() will not catch it; test with LEFT(cell, 4) = "#ERR" instead. Error handling covers the rest.
| Cell reads | What happened |
|---|---|
#ERR Not connected | No API key saved. Open the side panel and connect your account. |
#ERR Replace <name> with a cell or value | A preview formula was copied as-is. Swap the placeholder for a cell reference. |
#ERR No "x" in banklookup | An option name this source does not take. The message lists the ones it does. |
#ERR No data point "…" | The field path is not in the response. Check it against the table above. |
#PREMIUM(field) | The field exists but your plan does not include it. |
#ERR Out of credits | The cycle's credits are spent. Usage resets on your billing date. |
Before the formula works
The add-in reads the API key you saved once in the side panel — the key never goes in the formula, so a shared sheet does not leak it and a collaborator without access simply sees the last calculated values.
- Install the add-in for Google Sheets or Excel.
- Open the side panel and sign in, or paste a key from your dashboard.
- Type the formula above into any cell.
Use cases
- KYB and Vendor Onboarding
- Confirm that the bank a business names is a real, insured institution that is still operating, and record its FDIC certificate or NCUA charter with the file.
- Payment Instruction Checks
- Before paying a new routing number, check that it belongs to an active institution and that its owner matches the bank named on the invoice.
- Bank Merger Tracking
- Map an old bank name on a cheque or statement to the institution that absorbed it, with the date of the merger.
- Market Research
- Rank banks and credit unions in a state by assets and branch count from quarterly regulatory filings.
Other ways to use Bank Lookup
Set up Bank Lookup on VerveSheets, or reach the same source a different way. Your VerveSheets account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.
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