IBAN numbers essential for all bank account transactions from next month
Tuesday, January 28, 2014 @ 12:04 AM
BANK account details given to anyone for any reason will need the IBAN and SWIFT code attached to them from February this year, even where transfers and other transactions are not international.
The Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) requires that all account numbers automatically bear the IBAN, which is unique to the bank and branch in question and to the individual customer.
This will automatically entail the SWIFT code being required, which is for the bank as a company and does not vary by client.
Anyone who has had to make an international fund transfer will already know that the IBAN is a four-digit code placed at the beginning of the account number, normally two letters for the country and another two which identify the account.
Account numbers in Spain already have 20 digits, with the first four numbers being the bank and the next four being the branch code, followed by a unique two-figure 'control number' – dígito de control, or DC – and finally, the 10 figures which are the account number per se.
For example, Banco Santander Central Hispano is 0016, La Caixa is 2100, and BankInter is 0128.
This means a 20-digit account number with Santander CH will start with 0016, and so on.
But from next month, the four-digit IBAN code – say, ES85 or ES56 – must be written before the other 20 numbers.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com