Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) - The introduction of IBAN and BIC or Swift into UK and Ireland

Summary

This guide explains the introduction of IBAN and BIC or Swift, which you can use in Sage 50 Accounts.

Description

SEPA is an initiative of the European banking industry to make all electronic payments across European countries as easy as domestic payments are now. SEPA will standardise euro electronic payments across Europe.

SEPA came into full effect on 1 February 2014, changing the way euro electronic payments are processed across Europe. It means that you can make and receive payments seamlessly, collect a direct debit on any euro account or make a credit transfer to any euro account within SEPA.

From 1 February 2014 an International Bank Account Number (IBAN) and a Bank Identifier Code (BIC) replaced national sort codes and account numbers and they are required to make or receive euro electronic payments.

You receive the BIC and IBAN from your bank. The Banking & Payments Federation Ireland offer a service, where you can generate and validate your IBAN number, http://www.bpfi.ie/customer-assist/personal-customers/sepa-conversion-services/

More information about SEPA can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/finance/payments/sepa/index_en.htm

For a list of SEPA compliant banks that are supported through the Sage e-Banking feature, please refer to https://my.sage.co.uk/public/irl-sage-ebanking/irl-compatible-banks.aspx

Sage Accounts validates the IBAN and BIC or Swift number in the Customers and Suppliers modules to ensure it is in the correct format. If you have installed the latest updates for your software, it also validates the IBAN and BIC or Swift number in the Bank module.This article explains the validation rules.

Resolution

The IBAN and BIC or Swift boxes are within the Bank tab on your Customer and Supplier Records. If you have information in these boxes from prior to Sage 50 Accounts 2014, which is in the incorrect format, the fields are validated when you make any change to the record and save it.

NOTE: All letters must be entered in upper case.

IBAN

34 alpha numeric characters broken down to:

  • Two letters for country code.
  • Two check digits.
  • Up to 30 alphanumeric characters for the bank number.

TIP: You can check if the format of an IBAN is correct at http://www.tbg5-finance.org/?ibancheck.shtml


BIC or Swift

11 alphanumeric characters broken down to:

  • Four letters for bank or institution code.
  • Two letters for country code.
  • Two letters for location code, broken down to:
    • If the second character is 0, it's usually a test BIC rather than a BIC on the live network.
    • If the second character is 1, it denotes a passive participant in the SWIFT network.
    • If the second character is 2, it's usually a reverse billing BIC, where the recipient pays for the message rather than the more usual mode where the sender pays for the message.
  • Three alphanumeric characters for the branch code, which is optional and can be replaced with the value XXX.

 

Upgrade your licence

Growing business? Add more companies, users, or employees to your licence with ease. Leave your details and we’ll be in touch.

Image

 

Solution Properties

Solution ID
200427112302202
Last Modified Date
Thu Dec 15 11:52:48 UTC 2022
Attributes
Product Details
Modules: Bank feeds
Modules: Customers
Modules: Suppliers
Modules: Contact Management
Views
0