To send money to a bank account in Canada, you must specify:

• the recipient's account number (7-12 digits);
• the institution number(3 digits);
• the branch number (5 digits).

The recipient can find them in their cheque book or online bank.

For example, the numbers in the cheque book may look like this:

55555 : 333 : 7777777, where

• 55555 - branch number
• 333 - account number 
• 7777777 is an account number (up to 12 digits)

Institution and department numbers can also be found in the routing number:

an example of a routing number: 033355555, where

• 333 is the number of the institution
• 55555 is the branch number