From 1 January 2006, a European Payments Council resolution requires all European banks to process all cross-border euro payments, received within the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA), with mandatory BIC (Bank Identifier Code - colloquially known as the SWIFT code) and IBAN (International Bank Account Number) information.

The recipient of the funds will be able to obtain this information from their bankers and should provide it to the payer of those funds.

The Bank Identifier Code is a unique address which, in telecommunication messages, identifies precisely the financial institutions involved in financial transactions.

An IBAN is not a new bank account number. Existing sort codes and account numbers are retained, but additional characters are added to create a standard identifier, which is known as an IBAN.

With effect from 1 January 2006, failure to provide this information will result in delays and incur additional processing fees from the receiving bank.

Our staff will ensure that payments we send on our customers' behalf contain the required information, but to avoid unnecessary delays, we recommend that those sending funds ask the recipient to provide these details as a matter of course and that recipients of funds include this information on the appropriate documentation.

Go to a list of countries involved

Example of a BIC:

• A BIC consists of bank code, country code, location code, plus an optional branch code.
• BICs either have 8 characters or 11 characters if the branch code is present.

Without branch code	MIDLGB21
With branch code	MIDLGB21BBB

These are examples only and are not valid for sending payments.

To obtain BIC and IBAN details to send funds to Currency UK Ltd, please contact our offices.

Example of an IBAN:

• An IBAN consists of country code, check digits, bank code, sort code, account number.
• All characters must be included in an IBAN including the alpha characters at the start.
• When an IBAN is printed in paper form, for example on an invoice, the IBAN may be split into groups of four characters to make it easier to read. When an IBAN is processed electronically it must not contain blank spaces and must not include the word "IBAN".

Printed paper format	ES07 0012 0345 0300 0006 7890
Electronic format	ES0700120345030000067890

These are examples only and are not valid for sending payments.

To obtain BIC and IBAN details to send funds to Currency UK Ltd, please contact our offices.

• The country code identifies the country in which the IBAN was issued.
• The country code also indicates the domestic account structure to be used when deciphering the account number contained within the IBAN.
• The check digits are calculated by the financial institution issuing the IBAN.
• IBANs are not all the same length.
  

For further information visit: www.ecbs.org/iban/iban.htm

Page last updated: 06 June 2006 15:49