One of the biggest banks in Canada, CIBC, offers banking services in Canada, the U.S. and across the world. As with other financial institutions, each CIBC location has its own identifying code, known as the transit number. There are three ways to find your transit number: look at the bottom of a check, log into your CIBC banking account and find it in your account information or search your bank statement for the numbers.
About Bank Transit Numbers
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For more than a century, financial institutions have been identified by a number-based code, known as a transit or routing number. Initially, these numbers were designed to ensure paper-based checks returned to the location that initiated them. Even today, when banking is increasingly done online, banks are still typically identified by location, with each individual branch having its own transit number.
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As with other banks, CIBC institution numbers play a crucial role in ensuring money moves from one account to another. You may not be writing checks regularly, but those direct deposits and bank transfers you authorize all require the correct routing number to ensure the money lands in the right account. The transit number identifies your bank branch, while the account number directs payments to and from your specific account at that branch.
Find Your CIBC Transit Number
Although American banks are identified with a nine-digit routing number, in Canada, transit numbers are divided into two groups. You'll have a five-digit branch transit number, followed by a three-digit institution number. The CIBC institution number is 010, so that will be fixed, but your transit number will vary depending on the branch where your account is officially located.
There are three places to locate your CIBC bank transit number:
- Under My Accounts on your CIBC online banking login
- On your CIBC paper or electronic account statement
- At the bottom of your CIBC checks
When you're looking at the bottom of your check, you'll see the five-digit transit number first, followed by the institution number, then the account number.
Find Branch by Transit Number
In some cases, you may have a CIBC transit number with no idea of the branch. It may be that you aren't sure what your official branch is, especially if you've banked with multiple CIBC branches over the years. The good news is, you can easily look up a branch by transit number by going to locations.cibc.com and clicking on Search by Transit Number. Input the transit number and select Search.
The CIBC bank transit number will pull up information on the corresponding branch. You'll get the name and address of that location, as well as the hours and the services offered. You can use the phone number on that page to call or find the directions to your branch on the provided map.
Set Up CIBC Direct Deposit
If you're searching for a CIBC transit number, chances are you're setting up some sort of funds transfer. You'll see this most often with employers requiring direct deposit. There are plenty of reasons to set up direct deposit through CIBC, including no monthly fee on checking accounts. If direct deposit isn't an option, you can get the same benefits through setting up at least two pre-authorized payments per month where your bills automatically pay from your account.
If you go through your employer, you'll usually be given a direct deposit form where you input the CIBC institution number, transit number and your account number. But you can also get an authorization form from your bank, complete it and turn it over to your bank for processing. For this request, you'll need your own information from the bottom of a check, including the CIBC bank transit number, institution number and your own account number.