SEPA, Page 1 of 8
International
transfers are
not always easy
to understand.
We’re here
to help you.
International
­payments.
SEPA, Page 2 of 8
The idea of a single
European payments area.
SEPA – the concept.
The introduction of the euro as a single currency is now
­followed by the creation of a uniform European payments
system. These steps are intended to support economic
growth and strengthen the European Union.
The objective of the Single European Payments Area (SEPA)
is to standardise payment systems in Europe so that it functions as a “uniform domestic payments system” offering
payment instruments capable of meeting future needs of
THE SEPA countries:
SEPA primarily comprises the euro area
­countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia,
­Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
But it also covers euro payments among the
other EU countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech
Republic, Denmark, Gibraltar, Great Britain,
­Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden), member
states of the European Economic Area (EEA)
such as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, as
well as Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino, Jersey,
Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
the retail payments market in Europe at comparable conditions. In concrete terms this means that companies and
consumers can settle their euro-denominated transactions
within the SEPA area at uniform conditions as easily and as
safely as at the domestic level. It therefore no longer makes
any difference if you transfer funds within your own country
or within Europe.
SEPA, Page 3 of 8
SEPA: your benefits at a glance.
• Easy purchase of goods and services in the SEPA area.
• Uniform payment methods within Europe.
• Greater transparency: payment transactions in all SEPA
countries are governed by clear, uniform settlement
­procedures with pre-determined processing times.
• Enhanced security for payment transactions: a unique and
verifiable IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and
BIC (Bank Identifier Code) instead of an account number
and bank routing code. From 1 February 2016 it suffices
to state the IBAN. In the SEPA area the inclusion of the BIC
does not affect execution of a SEPA payment.
• Uniform legal framework which in Austria has been translated into the Austrian Payment Services Act (Zahlungs­
dienstegesetz – ZaDiG).
• Cross-border direct debits in the SEPA area with the
­possibility to request a refund within eight weeks.
New standards.
SEPA transfers and SEPA direct debits are governed by
­uniform payment regulations within participating SEPA
countries. It does not make any difference whether the
­transaction takes place within Austria or between Austria
and France, for example.
SEPA transfer requirements for Switzerland,
­Monaco, San Marino, St. Pierre and Miquelon,
­Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
The SEPA conditions, but not the EU pricing regulation, apply
to transfers to the countries listed above which participate in
the SEPA procedure but are not EU or EEA member states.
This means that a SEPA transfer is charged on the basis of a
foreign transfer and not as an EU cross-border payment.
IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and
BIC (Bank Identifier Code).
You require your own IBAN and the IBAN of the payee for
executing your payments. The IBAN is an international
standard for identifying bank accounts and contains the
country code, check digits, bank routing code and account
number. The BIC, often also known as the SWIFT code, is
the identification code used by a bank in its international
operations. Your personal IBAN and the BIC are included
on your account statements and in the financial status in
OnlineBanking, in the header of the relevant account, and on
your bank card. You can find the IBAN of the payee and the
BIC of the payee’s bank on invoices or you can obtain them
from the payee directly. Persons transferring money to your
account need your IBAN. The BIC is only required for transfers
outside the SEPA area.
How you save money with EU cross-border
­payments.
Quickly – easily – low-cost: with SEPA, the single euro payments area, and the EU cross-border payment procedure,
the prices you pay for incoming and outgoing euro transfers
within the EU and EEA countries are the same as for domestic payments.
Such transactions are subject to the following criteria:
• Transfer currency: euro.
• No limit on the amount of transfers.
• The IBAN (International Bank Account Number) must be
stated. The provision of the payee’s BIC (Bank Identifier
Code) does not affect processing of the payment order.
• The transfer must be a cross-border payment within the
EU member states1) and the EEA member states.
• No specific instructions (e.g. “advice”, “urgent”).
• Split bank charges: the domestic charges are always to be
paid by the payer and the foreign charges by the beneficiary. Instructions that deviate from this procedure cannot
be carried out.
1) A
ustria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
SEPA, Page 4 of 8
SEPA payment products.
The SEPA transfer (SEPA credit transfer).
SEPA transfers (SEPA credit transfers) can be used throughout the SEPA area for domestic and cross-border non-cash
payments since 28 January 2008. The uniform standards
apply to all euro-denominated transfers within the SEPA
area, regardless of the amount involved.
Key features of a SEPA transfer:
• Account details are to be provided in the form of the IBAN
without exception (data of the payee and of the originator).
The BIC is not required for cross-border payments within
the SEPA area from 1 February 2016.
• The original amount is forwarded for credit to the beneficiary without deductions; charges, if any, are debited
­separately.
• The payer and beneficiary bear their own costs in line with
the current procedure for EU cross-border payments.
• Guaranteed execution period of no more than one bank
business day (a maximum two bank business days in the
case of paper-based transfer orders) until the payee’s
­account is credited with the funds.
• Depending on the recipient country of an order, a SEPA
transfer is charged as an EU cross-border payment or as
a foreign transfer (in each case to the customer’s advantage).
• The EU cross-border payment applies to payments within
the EU and the EEA which are denominated in euro; since
1 April 2012 these are not limited to any specific amount.
The SEPA direct debit (SEPA Direct Debit Core).
Following its translation into national law on 1 November
2009, the Europe-wide Payment Services Directive represents a novel approach to cross-border payments in Europe
given the previous absence of a standardised procedure.
The debtor authorises the creditor to debit his/her account
(SEPA mandate).
Key features of a SEPA direct debit:
• Direct debits can only be made in respect of funds denominated in euro.
• Account details are to be provided in the form of the IBAN
without exception (data of the payee and of the originator).
The accounts must be denominated in euro.
• Every creditor needs a uniform, unique and standardised
creditor ID (creditor identification), which he/she requests
from his/her own bank and which is issued by Austria’s
central bank (OeNB) in Austria.
• A SEPA direct debit needs to be supported by a SEPA
­mandate.
• The creditor is required to inform the debtor in a timely
manner of the debit of funds and the time when the debit
will take place, e.g. invoice stating the due date of payment.
• The due date of the SEPA direct debit, specified by the
creditor when presenting the instructions for collection
and agreed with the debtor, is also the date on which the
debtor’s account is debited.
• The debtor may reverse a SEPA direct debit within a period
of eight weeks from the day on which his/her account was
debited with the relevant amount.
• In the absence of a SEPA direct debit mandate, a direct
debit transaction may be reversed within a period of
13 months.
• The accounting entry on the account statement reads
“SEPA-Lastschrift”. The debtor need not conclude a new
agreement for direct debits and pre-authorised payments.
• The bank of the creditor and the bank of the debtor are
required to participate in the SEPA direct debit procedure
(SEPA Direct Debit Core).
SEPA, Page 5 of 8
The SEPA direct debit mandate.
A SEPA direct debit can be collected only if it is supported by
a valid SEPA mandate issued by the debtor. Pre-authorised
payments that are already in place in Austria can be converted into SEPA direct debit mandates if the creditor so wishes.
The creditor must inform the debtor of this change in writing.
The creditor is required to keep the SEPA mandate and
­present it upon request. The SEPA mandate can be revoked
by the debtor vis-à-vis the creditor.
The content, but not the form of the SEPA mandate is
­defined. The legally relevant text of the SEPA direct debit
mandate should read as follows:
I/we authorise [name of creditor] to collect payments from
my/our account via the SEPA direct debit procedure. I/we at
the same time instruct my/our bank to honour the SEPA
direct debits drawn on my/our account by [name of creditor].
I/we can, within a period of eight weeks which commences
on the day on which the amount was debited, request the
refund of the amount debited. The conditions agreed with
my/our bank shall apply to this procedure.
In addition, a SEPA mandate must contain the following
information:
• Name, address and creditor ID (CID) of the payee.
• Name and account details in the form of the IBAN and the
signature of the account holder or debtor.
• Place and date of mandate issuance.
• The mandate reference issued by the payee:
– c learly defines the SEPA mandate in combination with
the creditor ID,
– has a length of up to 35 alphanumeric characters,
– may be included in the SEPA mandate or notified to the
debtor at a later time.
• The description “SEPA direct debit mandate” or “SEPA B2B
direct debit mandate”.
SEPA, Page 6 of 8
Overview of European countries.
European countries
Albania
Andorra
Austria
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
(incl. French-Guiana (GF),
Guadeloupe (GP), Martinique
(MQ), Mayotte (YT), Réunion
(RE), Saint-Barthélemy (BL),
St. Martin (French side, MF)
Germany
Gibraltar
Great Britain
Greece
Guernsey
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Isle of Man
Italy
Jersey
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malta
Moldavia
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Sweden
Switzerland
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
(incl. Canary Islands,
Ceuta and Melilla)
Turkey
Ukraine
Vatican
ISO code
AL
AD
AT
BY
BE
BA
BG
HR
CY
CZ
DK
EE
FI
Length of
IBAN
Local
currency
EU
16
20
22
21
28
24
18
20
18
ALL
EUR
EUR
RUR
EUR
BAM
BGN
HRK
EUR
CZK
DKK
EUR
EUR
●
FR
27
DE
GI
GB
GR
GG
HU
IS
IE
IM
IT
JE
LV
LI
LT
LU
MK
MT
MD
MC
ME
NL
NO
PL
PT
RO
RU
SM
RS
SE
CH
SK
SI
22
23
22
27
22
28
26
22
22
27
22
21
24
20
Member of
EEA
EFTA
Possible product
EU
Standard
SEPA
cross-border foreign
payment
transfer
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EUR
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27
22
24
21
24
19
EUR
GIP
GBP
EUR
GBP
HUF
ISK
EUR
GBP
EUR
GBP
EUR
CHF
EUR
EUR
MKD
EUR
MDL
EUR
EUR
EUR
NOK
PLN
EUR
ROL
RUR
EUR
RSD
SEK
CHF
EUR
EUR
ES
24
EUR
TR
UA
VA
26
TRY
UAH
EUR
21
20
31
27
18
15
28
25
24
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Note: The following non-European countries have issued an IBAN: Tunisia (IBAN has 24 characters), St. Pierre and Miquelon (IBAN has 27 characters)
and Morocco (IBAN has 24 characters). But EU cross-border payments are not possible.
Countries using the euro as their currency are highlighted in grey.
SEPA, Page 7 of 8
Timeline for SEPA transactions.
28 January 2008:
SEPA transfers (SEPA credit transfer) are offered since 28 January 2008.
1 November 2009:
Most banks offer SEPA direct debits since 1 November 2009. The Payment Services
Directive is translated into national law through the Austrian Payment Services Act
(Zahlungsdienstegesetz – ZaDiG) and comes into force.
1 November 2010:
Banks in euro area countries which also support national direct debit procedures are
required to offer SEPA direct debits.
2014:
Transfers and direct debits are executed only with the IBAN and BIC, which replace the
account number and bank routing code. This makes SEPA the unique, uniform payments
system in the SEPA countries.
1 February 2016:
Only the IBAN is required for transfers within the SEPA area. Any BIC that is included in the
information will not affect the execution of a transaction.
1 November 2016:
All banks must be reachable for the system and bulk payments in euros must be switched
to SEPA in non-eurozone countries.
SEPA, Page 8 of 8
Branches
About 235 locations throughout Austria
filialfinder.bankaustria.at
SmartBanking
Personal advice:
Monday to Friday, 8.00 am to 8.00 pm
Telephone
24h ServiceLine: 05 05 05-25 or *bank (= *2265)
SmartBanking ServiceLine: 05 05 05-26999
e-mail
[email protected]
[email protected]
This marketing information
was produced by
UniCredit Bank Austria AG,
Schottengasse 6–8, 1010 Vienna.
Errors and misprints excepted.
May 2016
05.16/ST
Internet
www.bankaustria.at
www.smartbanking.at