---
title: "Retrieve supported institutions"
---
Supported institutions are the banks and mobile money providers you can pay out to. When you [add an external account](/platform/external-accounts/add-an-external-account) for a global bank or mobile money payee, you must include the `institution_id` of the destination institution. Use this endpoint to look it up.

US bank accounts (ACH or wire) and SEPA accounts do not use an `institution_id`, so you only need this lookup for global bank and mobile money payees.

## List institutions

Call [Get external account institutions](/api-reference/external-accounts/get-v1-external-accounts-institutions). Filter by country and type to narrow the list.

```bash title="retrieve supported institutions request"
curl --request GET \
     --url 'https://api.gravv.xyz/v1/external-accounts/institutions?country_iso_code=NG&institution_type=bank' \
     --header 'Api-Key: <API_KEY>'
```

Query parameters:

- `country_iso_code`: country to list institutions for, as an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (for example, `NG`).
- `institution_type`: `bank` or `mobile_money`.
- `page` and `items_per_page`: pagination controls.

The response is a paginated list. Each item carries the `id` you pass as `institution_id`, along with the institution's supported currency and per-transaction amount limits:

```json title="retrieve supported institutions response"
{
  "data": {
    "items": [
      {
        "id": "c4788635-764d-43d3-9ffb-966b0fe29ff9",
        "name": "Keystone Bank PLC",
        "country_iso_code": "NG",
        "currency": "NGN",
        "account_number_type": "bank_account_number",
        "min_amount": 1,
        "max_amount": 10000
      }
    ],
    "page": 1,
    "items_per_page": 10,
    "total_pages": 6
  },
  "error": null
}
```

## Use the institution id

Pass the `id` from the list as `institution_id` when you [add an external account](/platform/external-accounts/add-an-external-account) for a global bank (`payee_type: bank_account`) or mobile money (`payee_type: mobile_money`) payee. Match the account's `currency` to the one the institution supports.