first direct Bank Address: What to Put on a Form
If a form is asking for the first direct bank address, here is the answer to copy:
1 Centenary Square, Birmingham B1 1HQ
That is the registered office, and it works for every first direct account on any form: payroll, Direct Debit, or an international transfer. first direct has no branches and never has, so the address for a form is its parent's registered office: and because that parent is HSBC UK, the answer is Birmingham.
At a glance
- The address to use
- 1 Centenary Square, Birmingham B1 1HQ
- Needed for UK payments?
- No: sort code + account number route everything
- When it genuinely matters
- Payments from abroad (SWIFT)
- Branch address instead?
- No branches exist
🏦 What to put for bank address
You probably don't need it
Your employer does not need it
Payroll runs on BACS, which routes on sort code and account number only. The address box is a hangover from paper forms. If it will not let you submit without one, put your bank's registered office below: nobody checks it, and it cannot misroute your wages.
first direct registered officeapp-only bank, no branches
1 Centenary Square, Birmingham B1 1HQ
first direct is a trading name of HSBC UK Bank plc, so it shares HSBC's registered office.
Registered offices taken from each bank’s own website in August 2026: check first direct’s current details. Registered offices do change, and a few banks use a separate correspondence address for post, so use this to fill a form rather than to send anything valuable. Nothing you select here is sent anywhere.
Why this address, and not a branch
first direct is a trading name of HSBC UK Bank plc, registered at 1 Centenary Square, Birmingham B1 1HQ. Its operations famously run from Leeds, and people who know that sometimes hunt for a Leeds address for forms: the legal answer, and the safe one, is the Birmingham registered office.
first direct has no branches, so there is no branch address to hunt for: the registered office is the only address the bank has, and it is the right one for every form.
When the form actually needs it
Most of the time it does not. A UK payment (wages, a Direct Debit, a bank transfer) is routed using your sort code and account number, and nothing else. The address box is a leftover from paper mandates, and where it is mandatory, the registered office satisfies it without any risk of misrouting.
The exception is a payment from abroad. SWIFT transfers genuinely use a bank address alongside your IBAN and BIC. For payments from abroad, use the Birmingham address with your IBAN and the BIC first direct shows in its international payment details (typically MIDLGB22 territory, from the old Midland Bank).
One caution that catches people out: if the form is a loan, credit or rental application, read the label again, because that address field usually means your address, the one being checked against the electoral roll and your credit file. And at an online checkout, an address field means your card's billing address: entering the bank's address there will fail the check and decline the payment.
Frequently asked questions
Is first direct's address in Leeds or Birmingham?
Its offices are in Leeds; its registered office, being HSBC UK Bank plc, is 1 Centenary Square, Birmingham. Forms want the registered office.
What do I put if the form asks for a branch name too?
first direct has no branches. Write "head office" or repeat the registered office; no UK form process fails on this, because the field is decorative.
General information, not financial advice. Registered offices can move: the address above was verified in August 2026, and the bank's own site is always the final word. For other banks, see what to put for a bank address.
