Credit Transfers
The banking industry has committed to make available the SEPA Electronic Credit transfer from 1st Jan 2008. It is possible that not every bank will be able to accept SEPA credit transfers from their originating customers through all channels. However, all banks will be able to receive incoming credit transfers which have been originated through another bank.
At the moment there are separate systems, each operating according to different standards for electronic credit transfers; one for credit transfers between Irish accounts, and another for credit transfers destined for accounts outside Ireland. From 1st Jan 2008 a further new standard will be introduced, which can be used for both Irish and European credit transfers.
The most significant differences are:
| Domestic credit transfer (within Ireland) | Cross-border credit transfer today (2007) | SEPA credit transfer from Jan 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
Account number | 8-digit account number | IBAN (number of characters varies according to destination country) | IBAN (number of characters varies according to destination country) Credits destined for Ireland will have 22-char IBAN |
Bank/Branch Identifier | National Sorting Code (NSC) – 6 digits commencing with “9” | Bank identifier code (BIC), also known as Swiftcode. Normally 8 characters, sometimes 11 chars | BIC |
Statement Narrative / remittance information | Maximum 18 characters | Varies | Maximum 140 characters on 4 lines of 35 characters |
Transmission to destination bank | Irish clearing system | Choices available to originating bank | Via PEACH (Pan-European Automated Clearing House) or alternative SEPA-compatible arrangement |
Clearing time | Next-day if presented in morning (i.e 2-day clearing cycle) | Max 4 days but most cleared earlier | Max 4 days but most cleared earlier |
Likely commencement and/or termination date | Will likely terminate soon after Jan 1st 2011 | May terminate for euro transactions at an early date. Will continue for non-euro transactions | Commence 1st Jan 2008 and develop further |
After start-up in 2008, the period of migration of existing credit transfer users will commence. In Ireland, this period might coincide with efforts by the banks to reduce cheque usage.