International Bank Account Number - Advice on Usage

The European Payments Council (EPC) had previously introduced Regulation 2560/2001 which stipulated that countries in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) must use the SWIFT BIC of the beneficiary bank, (or Payment Services Provider (PSP)) and the international bank account number (IBAN) as the only beneficiary account identifier for all euro denominated cross-border customer payments of €50,000 or under. It also stipulated that any fees levied for any intra-EEA cross-border payment under EUR 50,000 should be levied at a fee consistent with a domestic transfer.

Effective November 1, 2009 this Regulation was immediately succeeded by Regulation 924/2009 which embraces all of the conditions of Regulation 2560/2001 but it allows for each EEA Member State to introduce the Regulation into their own legislation to cover cross-border transactions in their own national currency, and to a limit of local currency equivalent to €50,000 — although this limit will be reviewed within 2 years from the introduction of this Regulation 924/2009. As at October 21, 2009, the only country to have done so has been Sweden but there is a high probability that the other EEA Member States will follow suit, particularly as they are having to pass related payment regulation in the form of the Payment Services Directive.

In order to avoid delay in payment, returned payments or additional charges, J.P. Morgan is recommending that for any payment in an EEA currency, irrespective of the amount, ensure that you quote the SWIFT BIC of the beneficiary's bank (or Payment Services Provider), and the IBAN of the beneficiary. Any third party bank charges incurred due to incorrectly formatted payments will be passed back to the originator.

In order to avoid delay in payment, returned payments or additional charges, please refer to the table below for the latest IBAN position adopted by each currency.

*SEK Regulated payments are handled in accordance with EU Regulation on cross-border payments (previously Reg 2560/2001, now Reg 924/2009) and therefore falling under the convention on Interbank Charging Principles. Those principles are as follows: payments to and from customer accounts maintained within the EU, for amounts up to SEK 500 000, charging option SHA only, STP required i.e. BIC code and IBAN number is required, with fields 23E and 72 left empty.

**Mandatory requirement for IBANs in Saudi Arabia extends to all currencies going to a beneficiary bank in Saudi Arabia.