Many European banks have already issued IBANs to their customers. IBANs were issued in the UK from April 2001 onwards, to customers who require them. If you have not been given one, and need one because you do business with Europe, contact your bank.

Banks began to cite the IBAN and the accompanying Bank Identification Code (BIC) on statements and related paperwork from July 2003 onwards.

For your European counter parties to obtain the most economic service when making cross-border payments, you should cite your IBAN+BIC on invoices.

When an invoice is received containing an IBAN+BIC, the IBAN should be quoted in the account number and the BIC in the BIC field on the payment instruction given to the paying bank.

Note that an IBAN in printed format (such as on an invoice) is likely to be prefaced by the word IBAN e.g. IBAN AT61 1904 3002 3457 3201. The word IBAN is NOT to be entered on any input to the bank.

Countries Issuing and Receiving IBANs