Glossary

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Basic Bank Account Number; the IBAN without the first four characters (country code and checksum).

Bank ldentifier Code, also known as SWIFT address: a globally unique code for a bank.

International Bank Account Number, consisting of ISO country code (two digits), a checksum (two digits), the national bank code or sort code (in Germany, it is called "Bankleitzahl") and the account number. The length of IBANs differs between countries (the maximum is 34 alphanumeric characters), but it is always the same within one country.

International Payment Instruction

International Securities Identification Number

Since July 2003, "straight-through processing" Euro cross border payments that fulfill the following criteria, are not more expensive than domestic money transfers:

  • The IBAN of the recipient and his bank's BIC are completely and correctly specified.
  • The currency is EUR.
  • The amount is no more than EUR 50,000.
  • The transfer is from one EU member to another. These are currently Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
  • The costs of the transfer are shared with the recipient.

Payment Services Directive - a legal framework for SEPA.

International Securities Identification Number

SEPA Cards Framework

SEPA Credit Transfer

SEPA Direct Debit

SEPA: "Single European Payment Area". From January 28, 2008, the SEPA framework comes into force. Among other things, this means that from 2012 on, money transfers within the SEPA area should not take more than one day (instead of three).

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications; A Belgian company that offers telecommunications services for banks worldwide. The SWIFT code is the same thing as the BIC. From January 28, 2008, the SEPA framework comes into force. Among other things, this means that from 2012 on, money transfers within the SEPA area should not take more than one day (instead of three).