Experian has introduced a new nationwide IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and BIC (Bank Identifier Code) look-up service, for all Dutch citizens and corporates. Experian claims that the service would meet the requirements of Netherlands Bankers’ Association (NVB) and facilitates migration to SEPA (the Single European Payments Area initiative), by ensuring that individuals and businesses have the correct bank and account data to make payments within the Netherlands.
At present, several Dutch individuals and corporates are not in a position to utilise SEPA because their payment instructions currently do not include IBANs and BICs, which are mandatory for SEPA compliance.
Customers of the service can request the correct IBAN and BIC information using an online web service, via a voice response system or an SMS message. A corporate web service allows Dutch businesses to update batch files of BBANs (Basic Bank Account Numbers) with the corresponding IBANs and BICs for SEPA compliance.
Jim Conning, Managing Director, Experian Payments, said: “SEPA is fundamentally changing the whole European payments landscape. In addition, Experian’s bank account validation system, Bank Wizard, can help businesses with their migration of account records outside the Netherlands. We also have the European footprint to provide similar services to other EU banking communities who want to facilitate the move to SEPA payments smoothly”.
Experian is a Dublin, Ireland-based information services company. Its principal lines of business are credit services, marketing solutions, decision analytics and interactive services.
