EU cross-border payment fees

With regulation No. 2560/2001, the EU introduced new rules for calculating fees for cross-border payments between EU member states. The rules apply to all banks in the EU countries and were introduced in each country in 2003. The rules apply to both retail and corporate customers.

Purpose of the new rules

• To enable companies to transfer money fast, safely and cheaply from one end of the EU to the other
• To harmonise the fees for domestic and cross-border payments within the EU
• To make it possible for banks to process payments automatically, without manual processing

Terms of the regulation
When certain conditions are complied with, the fee for cross-border payments must be the same as the fee you pay for a similar domestic payment in the country from which the payment is sent. The conditions are as follows:

• The payment may not exceed EUR 50,000
• The payment must be effected within the EU countries
• The beneficiary bank's BIC (Bank Identifier Code) must be indicated
• The beneficiary account's IBAN  (International Bank Account Number) must be indicated
• The remitter and beneficiary of the payment must each pay their own bank charges
• The remitting and beneficiary banks must be able to effect payments without manual processing

If you accept transfers as payment, you must notify your customers of your IBAN and your bank's BIC when you send invoices for goods and services within the EU.

Euro payments in the EU and EEA
In June 2005, the European Payments Council (EPC) passed a resolution requiring all European banks, beginning on January 1, 2007, to process cross-border (non-domestic) euro payments to recipients in the EU and the EEA (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland) with mandatory BIC and IBAN information. Payments without both the BIC and IBAN may be rejected after the deduction of a fee.