IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is a standardised and electronically recognisable format of a Bank Account number, which was created by the European Committee for Banking Standards (ECBS) and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). The aim of the IBAN is to facilitate the error-free processing of cross-border credit transfers and to improve the potential for straight through processing (STP).

The IBAN is a series of alphanumeric characters that uniquely identifies an account held at a bank anywhere in the world. The IBAN has a maximum of 34 alphanumeric characters.

Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on cross-border payments in the Community and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:266:0011:0018:EN:PDF having recognised the need for significant improvements in the efficiency of cross-border payments in euro with regard to cost, speed and quality, requires payment service providers to provide the IBAN and their BIC (Bank Identifier Code) to their customers.

In the process of applying the provisions of the above, the Central Bank has, in co-operation with the banking industry, prepared a manual for the implementation of the IBAN standard. The electronic format of IBAN in Cyprus is made up of 28 consecutive alphanumeric characters and its structure contains the following successive parts.

CYDDTTTKKKKKXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Where:

CY = Country Identfication (ISO code)

DD = Check Digit

TTT = BANK Identification Code

KKKKK =Branch Identification Code

XXX……X= Customer Account Number (BBAN)

The Cyprus IBAN has been adopted by all domestic banking institutions as from 1 April, 2004, and has been also registered with the ECBS.