FiNBOX has switched to IBAN and is ready for SEPA

18 September 2013

FiNBOX, the financial inbox within online banking at ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank, has fully switched to IBAN and is ready for SEPA credit transfers. From 1 February 2014, all payments and credit transfers in the Netherlands must comply with SEPA rules, but FiNBOX can already process SEPA payments using IBANs.

Longer IBANs

The most important consequence of introducing SEPA for FiNBOX is the use of IBANs, or International Bank Account Numbers. Businesses and organisations whose administration has already switched to IBAN can now also use these longer account numbers on electronic invoices in FiNBOX. Nothing changes for ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank account holders receiving such invoices in FiNBOX. As before, they simply approve payment of the electronic invoice in online banking with a single mouse click.

Good alternative to Acceptgiro and direct debit mandates

For businesses and organisations, FiNBOX is a good alternative to printed Acceptgiros and direct debit mandates. Now that all Acceptgiros and direct debits must be replaced by new European variants as a result of SEPA, this is a good opportunity to switch to electronic invoicing through FiNBOX.

Transition to SEPA

SEPA, the Single Euro Payments Area, is the common European payments market in which there is no longer any distinction between domestic credit transfers and euro transfers to other SEPA countries. All euro-area countries belong to SEPA, as do several non-euro countries that support easy euro payments, including the United Kingdom and Switzerland. The transition to SEPA is a major international operation, larger than the introduction of the euro in 1999. It requires entirely new payment infrastructure between businesses, banks and transaction processors. Thousands of people have been working behind the scenes for years on this unprecedented change to payments.

Processing uniform euro payments within SEPA requires IBANs that are unique worldwide. An IBAN contains all the information indicating the country and bank to which the account belongs. In the Netherlands, an IBAN consists of 18 characters. For consumers, the longer IBANs are the only visible effect of the SEPA migration. Businesses and organisations, however, must adapt their accounting systems and payment processes to SEPA in good time. Those that fail to do so will no longer be able to receive or send account-to-account payments from 1 February 2014.