The EPC Customer Stakeholder Forum (CSF) representing the EPC and customer organisations acting on a European level have prepared a set of questionnaires to investigate the actual experience of users inputting the IBAN and the BIC.

IBAN is a problem in a number of countries who still use old bank coordinates. The two main reasons for this are that IBAN is not yet mandated by national law in these countries, and that they do not have the IBANs for their suppliers and IBANs cannot be safely obtained from BBAN by a safe algorithm.

The first problem will be solved when the SEPA end date is fixed. The second, however, requires cooperation among customers, suppliers and banks and, possibly, a smart solution like the one implemented in Italy where corporates receive IBAN updates directly from banks.

Right now IBAN and BIC are only mandatory for cross-border credit transfers. In SEPA, IBAN will be mandatory for all types of payments, domestic and cross-border. BIC is a different story as it is needed for internal bank routing. The EACT position on this issue is that Banks should add BIC to payments themselves as they are in the best position to match a BIC to an IBAN.

The survey is the start of a process leading regulators and the EPC to decide the best course of action regarding IBAN and BIC. and the purpose of the survey is essentially "fact-finding"; identifying problems and perceptions in different countries as opposed to proposing solutions.

The survey will run until July 5th. Results from the survey will be analyzed and published in September 2010. Two questionnaires have been prepared: one for individual users and another for business users. Users are asked to respond online to the survey published in English. As it is important to get as many responses as possible, translations have been provided for a number of languages.

You can find the survey, and further details regarding this survey by visiting the EPC website, or by clicking here.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 July 2010 )

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