Skip to content

Incorrect transfers down since final switch to IBAN

Published on:

After the Netherlands completed its switch to IBANs on 1 August 2014, the number of incorrect transfers fell by two-thirds compared with a year earlier. An incorrect transfer is one for which the payer, or account holder, accidentally enters the wrong account number, for example because of a typing error.

Illustration on laptop screen explains the structure of an IBAN with example NL99 BANK 0123 4567 89.

In April 2014, Finance Minister Dijsselbloem reported that roughly 4,500 incorrect transfers were still being made each month. The automatic conversion of old account numbers into IBANs in internet banking was cited as one cause. In some cases, typing errors in an old account number resulted in a valid IBAN belonging to a different beneficiary than intended.

All banks stopped automatic conversion in internet banking in August 2014, after which users could only enter full IBANs. Every IBAN has two check digits that detect typing errors in the account number. The number of incorrect transfers had since fallen to roughly 1,500 a month, while around 125 million transfers were credited to the correct bank account each month.

Minister Dijsselbloem had also reported the previous year that more than three-quarters of all incorrect transfers were properly returned by the unintended beneficiaries. The Dutch Payments Association and the Dutch Consumers’ Association would now discuss whether the remaining incorrect transfers could be prevented more effectively or returned more easily.

Related articles