tabbs wrote:The European Parliament agreed to the SEPA "migration deadline" of 1 February 2014 yesterday. By that time, all payments within the euro area (domestic or cross-border) will be SEPA payments and use the International Bank Account Number (IBAN).
After Feb-2014, banks may still allow their customers to use older account identifiers (in Germany, for example, that would be the BLZ bank code and the account number) for another two years when making a payment. But then the bank needs to "internally" convert the data to the IBAN system. This transition phase will end in Feb-2016.
Current both the BIC and the IBAN are needed when making a cross-border transfer in the euro area. As from Feb-2014 the IBAN alone will be sufficient for domestic payments; two years later the BIC will not be necessary for other euro area payments either.
Christian
Funnily enough, this deadline was originally 1.1.2010. Some time after the beginning of 2010 they noticed that apparently only Finland had obeyed it
We'll see, if this 2014 deadline will be any different from the one in 2010...
Then again, between Jan-1999 and Dec-2001 people and companies had three full years for the euro changeover. And we all know how these things often work: Two more years? zzzZZZ. Still one year? zzzZZZ. Just a few days left? Action!!
These days I get quite a few notifications about my direct debit authorizations being automatically converted into the new SEPA format (with IBAN and BIC). Some companies/organizations do the conversion now or very soon, most (as far as I can tell) pick 1-Jan, and some wait until the "end" on 1-Feb. The latter option may not be a good idea, but as long as things work smoothly ...
tabbs wrote:and some wait until the "end" on 1-Feb. The latter option may not be a good idea, but as long as things work smoothly ...
... and some apparently wait even longer. Today Commissioner Barnier announced that the 1 Feb deadline is ... dead. The European Commission proposed a six month extension. Quote: "In practice this means the deadline for migration remains 1 February 2014 but payments that differ from a SEPA format could continue to be accepted until 1 August 2014." http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-6_en.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;