Worldwide standardized account number format with a maximum of 34 digits. – The first four digits contain the country code (e.g., CH for Switzerland) and the check digit (39), followed by the four-digit bank identifier (e.g., 0070 for Zürcher Kantonalbank) and then the corresponding account number of the bank client (such the IBAN distinctively identifies an individual account at a particular financial institution in any country worldwide). In this way, the IBAN serves to simplify the processing of payment transactions, especially in the cross-border area. Following the decisions taken at European level, the IBAN will become mandatory for credit transfers within Europe from summer 2014. – Since November 2009, banks in Germany no longer have to check whether the account number matches the recipient’s name when making transfers. This was done in accordance with the EU’s Payment Services Directive (PSD), which was incorporated into German law by an implementing act of July 9, 2009. Where a transfer goes is determined solely by the account number. – In Germany, less than one percent of transfers were made using the new system in 2010; in Belgium, by contrast, the figure was over thirty percent; in Italy and Luxembourg, only the IBAN was used. For a long time, a resistance to the IBAN (“IBAN the Terrible”) that could hardly be explained rationally, was often passionate and was taken up and intensified by groups such as opponents of the euro, globalization critics, environmentalists and other enraged citizens. As of summer 2014, the IBAN is mandatory; until 2016, institutions in Germany may still accept the old account identifiers. These will then be transferred free of charge to the IBAN and, if necessary, to the BIC. – See Bank Identifier Code, financial psychology, SEPA Council, Single European Payment Area. – Cf. Financial Stability Report 2013, p. 66 (hardly any systemic risk as a result of the changeover).
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University Professor Dr. Gerhard Merk, Dipl.rer.pol., Dipl.rer.oec.
Professor Dr. Eckehard Krah, Dipl.rer.pol.
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