Compulsory IBAN codes as of September

The National Bank of Romania does not plan delaying the entry into practice of the new regulations forcing all credit institutions to generate IBAN (International Bank Account Number) codes for their customers’ accounts and to transmit their new form to the clients. This should be obligatory starting September 1st.

However, central bank sources state that in the wake of a session scheduled for Monday, “some easing up” of the respective regulations is likely to be decided. The state Treasury will be one of the beneficiaries of this possible decision.

Practically, starting September 1st, banks will no longer be able to operate payment orders for cross-border operations should these not be performed using the new IBAN codes.

Over the last few months, banks have been carrying on a campaign meant to inform their customers about the new IBAN codes. The information was directly transmitted to customers at bank offices, in case they came to perform some such operation. Banks have also used other methods to send information, including Internet pages, Call-Center services, account extracts or even personalised letters. At all bank units, customers will receive their new account number within IBAN format. At the same time, the bank’s customers are also informed through regular account statements.

Banca Tiriac is giving its customers their IBAN codes together with their account statements, also explaining the effects of this modification to them.

Customers of Banca Comerciala Romana (Romanian Commercial Bank – BCR) can find out their new IBAN code from the bank’s offices, from an Info-Center or accessing the Internet page. At the same time, the bank includes the new code in the regular account statements that it sends to its customers.
liviu.chiru@zf.ro