EPC Resolution

As a further move in its strategy, the European Payments Council (EPC) has issued a resolution, which is mandatory for all Banks in the EU & EEA area. The resolution states: -

• Commencing on 1 January 2006, IBAN & BIC will be recognized as the only beneficiary customer account identifier and bank routing designation accepted by banks domiciled in EU/EEA for any intra EU/EEA euro cross-border customer credit transfers exchanged between customer accounts domiciled in the EU/EEA irrespective of the amount of such credit transfers.
• To allow for the complete adaptation of the market to these rules, there will be a transition period to the end of 2006 during which banks will handle credit transfers where the beneficiary customer account is identified in a different way than by IBAN on an exceptional basis, as a value added service.
• From 1 January 2007, banks sending euro intra-EU/EEA cross-border customer credit transfers will exclusively use IBAN & BIC as beneficiary's account identifier and bank routing designation. Banks receiving euro intra-EU/EEA cross-border customer credit transfers with other identification are entitled to reject or return them as a matter of normal practice. The latter does not apply to banks receiving such payments through their national clearing system.

EU = European Union
EEA = European Economic Area

In practical terms, this means that IBAN & BIC must be used to identify the beneficiary's account on all cross-border payments within the EU / EEA.

Failure to provide this information, is likely to, as a minimum result in additional costs being incurred by customers together with delay in processing, and worst case, from 1 January 2007, the payment could be rejected.