Sydney, 18 December, 2006: The Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) advises anyone who is conducting international money transfers from January 1, 2007, to businesses, friends or relatives in Europe, including the UK, should contact their bank.
The process for transferring money in Euro will be different from 1 January 2007 when the rules in Europe* change. This change may soon apply for international transfers of other currencies as well.
Before sending money to Europe, bank customers are strongly urged to have two numbers from the beneficiary – the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) and the Bank Identifier Code (BIC). (See over for diagram)
The IBAN uniquely identifies an account held at a bank in European countries. It is an enlarged version of the existing domestic account number which makes it recognisable internationally. In the UK it is 22 characters but IBANs issued in other countries may be of different lengths.
The BIC is an 8 or 11 character identifier which provides the routing information and branch identification.
David Bell, Chief Executive of the Australian Bankers’ Association, said: “There are always a lot of people who like to send money to friends and relatives in Europe over Christmas and New Year.”
“It would be a good idea to speak to your bank about how to make international money transfers to Europe before heading into the branch. Your bank will advise you that you will need to speak to the people who are to receive the money in Europe. These beneficiaries will need to supply you with their Bank Identifier Codes and their banks’ IBANs which can be obtained from their overseas financial institutions.”
“If you are dealing with businesses in Europe, they should be encouraged to provide their BIC and IBAN on the invoices and payment requests.”
From January next year, banks in Europe will no longer be obliged to accept payments that do not include the beneficiary BIC and IBAN details. While a payment instruction may still be accepted without these numbers (i.e. domestic account number), the bank in Europe may charge additional fees, delay payment or reject the transfer.
IBAN is an initiative being driven by the European Commission and banks across Europe to introduce a standard account number format for use with cross border payments in Europe and from other parts of the world.
This change has been introduced by the European Payments Council (EPC), the decision-making and co-ordination body of the European banking industry in relation to payments. It is a step towards meeting the European Commission’s goal to create a Single Euro Payments Area which itself aims to simplify the electronic movement of funds in Europe.
Notes for editors:
Source: European Committee for Banking Standards: www.ecbs.org
Examples of European IBANS: N.B. These are examples only. If sending money to Europe, speak to the beneficiary who will seek
the IBAN from his/her financial institution.
For further information:
Heather Wellard, ABA PR
Phone: 02 8298 0411
Mobile: 0409 830 439
ENDS
* For the context of this media release Europe refers to the 25 European Union Member states together with Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Sweden.