Offshore transfers IBAN regulations

A guide to using international bank account numbers to make international transfers.

Sending international payments

You’ll often need to quote an International Bank Account Number (IBAN) reference for international payments. Sometimes you may have to give additional details including the reason for the payment or the beneficiary’s full name and address. It depends on the payment destination. The exact information will be confirmed when the payment is sent.

You’ll need to use the IBAN if you’re making payments to a beneficiary in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA); which has the following members:

• The UK and its Crown Dependencies
• Any EU member state
• Iceland
• Liechtenstein
• Monaco
• Norway
• San Marino
• Switzerland

If you use other details instead of the IBAN:

• The receiving bank may return or reject the payment
• The payment will be processed as an International Payment which has a higher fee than a SEPA Credit Transfer
• The customer could incur a loss due to the movement in the exchange rates, if the payment is returned

Other countries where IBANs are mandatory:

Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Greenland, Guatemala, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), British Virgin Islands.

How to get IBAN and SWIFTBIC (BIC) details

The payment beneficiary should be able to give you their IBAN and SWIFTBIC (BIC). These details may also appear on their bank statements.

Using IBAN to receive payments in euro (EUR)

If you want to receive payments from Europe in euro (EUR), you’ll need to make sure your payer has details of your IBAN and relevant Barclays SWIFTBIC (BIC).

You can find this information at the top right-hand side of your bank statement. If you can’t find it, you can create it online, get it from your relationship manager or our client service centre.

Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

International payments need to include the name, account number and address of the remitter as part of the payment message sent to the beneficiary bank. We’ll do this for you, automatically.

The information is required in order to comply with the EU Wire Transfer Regulations and the Financial Action Task Force recommendations. These lay down rules on information on the payer to accompany transfers of funds for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, and detection of money laundering and terrorist financing.