IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is internationally standardized form of account number created in cooperation with European Committee for Banking Standards and allows explicit identification of account, country and bank institution of recipient of payment in the event of cross-border transfers.
Cross-border transfer means payment in EUR within the countries of the European Economic Area (EU countries plus Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein). Current review of EEA countries is specified on www.ecbg.org.
IBAN can consist of maximum of 34-character combination of letters and numbers:
2 characters - country code
2 characters - control digits allowing program checking of account number
30 characters - account number (bank code, prefix of account, basic account number)
IBAN for SR consists of 24 characters.
When printed, IBAN is separated by spaces in groups of 4 characters, in electronic form the spaces between the groups of characters are dropped.
Examples:
COUNTRY
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IBAN in paper form
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IBAN in electronic form
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Czech Republic
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CZ38 0300 0000 0000 0222 8949
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CZ3803000000000002228949
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Slovak Republic
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SK46 6500 0000 0000 0203 9794
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SK46650000000000 2039794
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Germany
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DE89 3704 0044 0532 0130 00
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DE89370400440532013000
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Great Britain
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GB29 NWBK 6016 1331 9268 19
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GB29NWBK60161331926819
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BIC (Bank Identifier Code) is internationally standardized form for identification of the bank - bank identifier code (known as a swift code of bank). BIC consists of 8 or 11 characters which include bank code, country code, registered office code or branch code.
BIC code of Poštová banka is POBNSKBA.
Use of account number in form of IBAN and BIC code of the bank in case of cross-border transfers influence amount of charges, reducing of period for payment and safety of cross-border transfers.
If remitter fails to specify IBAN and BIC of recipient in payment order for cross-border transfer, bank of recipient will impose additional charges for payment. Therefore it is necessary to announce account number in form of IBAN and BIC code of bank to foreign partners.
Internationally standardized form of account number - IBAN is not used for transfer in domestic currency in the area of SR. For domestic payment system in domestic currency the bank contact is still used in form - prefix of account (6 characters) and account number (10 characters).