Employers, service companies and utilities have been warned by the Central Bank of Ireland not to discriminate against people whose checking account providers are using non-Ireland bank account numbers.
BAN (International Bank Account Number) discrimination is becoming a problem across Europe as more companies provide services across Europe.
Payment providers Revolut and N26 use IBANs other than Ireland, and account owners often find that their employer or utility provider is rejecting payment requests.
Revolut uses the Lithuanian IBAN, while the N26 uses the German IBAN.
Some users of these money apps find that their employers and pension providers do not pay, but some service providers are unaware of the out-of-state payment provider IBAN.
The central bank said it has written to all regulated financial service providers, companies and professional representatives in the state to remind companies of their obligations under the Single European Settlement Zone Initiative (SEPA). I did.
With SEPA, payment service customers can use IBAN to make cashless euro payments to businesses and individuals anywhere in the SEPA area.
According to the Central Bank, refusing to accept non-Irish IBANs within the SEPA area is prohibited under SEPA regulations and is known as IBAN discrimination.
IBAN discrimination poses difficulties for Irish and European consumers and raises barriers to the proper functioning of payment systems.
William Molloy, Director of Financial Operations at the Central Bank, said:
“These obligations apply to all organizations, including regulated financial services companies, companies and state organizations.
“Consumers should be able to choose a payment service provider (PSP) without worrying about having problems using legitimate payment account details,” Molloy said.
Daragh Cassidy of price comparison site Bonkers.ie said IBAN discrimination isn’t as bad as it used to be, but it’s still very problematic in Ireland and has been going on for years.
“This is a competitive barrier and obstacle in the Irish banking sector, and we need strong action to counteract it,” he said.
Intervention by the central bank will take place the day after the retail bank here is allowed by the state’s competition monitoring agency to set up a remittance app for rival Revolut.
The Synch payment system aims to enable instant personal payments on mobile phones.
It is understood that the payment app is called Yippay.
