Local banks, through the Malta Bankers’ Association, are embarking on an awareness campaign to promote the use of the International Bank Account Number (IBAN), an international standard for accurately identifying individual bank accounts, even across national borders.
The campaign is all part of the run-up to the standardisation and harmonisation of electronic payments in euro within the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) in 2014.
The MBA, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Malta, has been holding regular talks with the local business community to prepare for this change and will be issuing a series of communication messages aimed at the public about the changes which the SEPA project will bring about.
Until now, bank customers were familiar with the 11 to 13-digit account number, which is printed on their cheques and bank statements. The IBAN includes this account number but also contains other alphanumeric characters which identify the particular bank and branch in the country where the account is held.
By 2014, all credit transfers and direct debit payments in euro within SEPA will have common features, terms and conditions. Most importantly, there will no longer be any distinction between domestic payments effected within the same member state, and cross-border payments made by a payer in one member state to a beneficiary in another member state.
All SEPA payments quote the IBAN, rather than the account number, of the beneficiary of a credit transfer or the payer of a direct debit. This applies equally to domestic payments such as, for example, payments of pensions and social security benefits, salary payments, and the payment of interest and dividends on local investments. Likewise, in the case of direct debits, the service provider will need to know the payer’s IBAN in order to collect payments when due. In Malta, the IBAN consists of 31 alphanumeric characters, and can be found from your bank account statements. Most banks also provide facilities through their electronic channels (websites/internet banking /ATMs) whereby customers can find out their IBAN. In case of any difficulty, account holders should contact their respective banks.
The IBAN identifies this as being an Austrian bank account; Maltese ones would start with the letters “MT”