It would be nice if we could get a local IBAN that is specific to the country of residence.
Although every IBAN should be accepted within the EU there still are some exceptions (for salary, online shopping, …).
I’m from Germany and I had a few cases where a DE IBAN would’ve helped.
54 Likes
yeah that would be pretty awesome; if you mention a GB IBAN for a eur-account, you get “mixed reactions”…
if revolut could supply local IBANS (currency-independent), that would realy be “beyond banking” 
11 Likes
you get ONE multicurrency IBAN after doing the advanced onboarding on business accounts.
but it’s not “local”… it’s for SWIFT only.
it’s a bit annoying that you end up having to use one IBAN for SEPA/EUR (REVOGB21) and another for SWIFT/EUR (REVOGB2L)… so… better keep your EUR invoices inside Europe.
1 Like
@alejandro.mery
the issue here is:
we get a UK-IBAN for EUR-accounts.
sometimes, this is causing problems/issues when you eg. life in Germany as FelschR does, or Switzerland (like I do) because it’s not a “local IBAN”…
Hence it would be fantastic if Revolut, in future, could supply one…
2 Likes
that would require one partner on each country…
transferwise borderness gives you a SEPA IBAN on a German bank though.
by definition (law) the local EUR IBAN has to be considered local on every country of the euro zone despite the address of the bank. that’s the whole point of SEPA.
3 Likes
Which, of course, might be equally useless for Italian, French or Austrian users and which also points to the original problem
The whole point of SEPA (Single … Area) is a unified payment system where the origin of the account does not matter. If an institution now “discriminates” accounts not starting with a particular country code the problem is with them and not the issuer of said account. Hence it is them who should be pressured into accepting perfectly valid accounts.
Its hardly feasible for Revolut to offer 34 different types of account codes because some third-parties insist on being choosy for no reason.
5 Likes
@alejandro.mery
…yes and because IBAN and SEPA are things invented by SWIFT and valid for EEA and non EEA-Europe, everyone deals with euros. Putting the “EU isn’t Europe”-point aside (also in reply to @alessandro :
since 2008, many regulations have been put into place for preventing subprime-crisis, tax evasion and -fraud, moneylaundry aso.
Since then, one can’t simply say “this account is mine”; eventough it’s correct, there are STILL regulations that require the IBAN has to be from “local country X” so a transfer can be made…
I, for example, had the pleasure to see this with the “Aldi Süd TaxFree” and the Global-Blue-cards: both need a local IBAN for paying the collected VAT-returns. I can’t use the revolut EUR-account for getting the german VAT, collected via GlobalBlue (who also handles the Aldi-thing), paied as EUR on my Revolut EUR-Account. Because the IBAN starts with “GB…” @FelschR also names two “sensitive” fields… Pretty sure there are even more…
And yes, with TW, you get a German IBAN… I also see that it would be difficult for Revolut… But hey - others can do it, and Revolut should be used as alternative to a local bank, right?
(alessandro - the third partie in this case: EU and G20. say grace to them inventing stupid regulations that have no impact on the fields they should prevent)
1 Like
How should that be related to the topic at hand and the origin of a SEPA account?
We are not discussing proof of “ownership” of an account here, are we? Also, how would the country of origin have any influence here?
I am not aware of any such legal regulations. Could you please elaborate and post the sources?
I am not sure what that is, but I cant imagine how a different country code can affect anything here. Also, VAT returns wouldnt be applicable within the EU anyhow or were you referring to something else?
Others offer 34 country codes?
1 Like
There is a new entity to report IBAN discrimination easily online in Germany.
3 Likes
@alessandro
…since you’ve read my post, is there still a need for me to go “in-depth”?
it’s very simple, you know:
client has a revolut account (with GB…IBAN)
company wants to send client money (in my example: global blue.)
client wants the money to be sent to the revolut-accoung.
company is obliged to follow EU-law.
EU-law dictates for certain companys ** "to send client money, he needs an IBAN from the country he lives in.
…as for currently revolut, client needs a bankaccount in country x where he/she/it lives, to receive the money.
it’s not so hard to understand if you just try to see “the other side”…
** certain companys depending in which branch they are working; eg. especially if tax-relevant…
2 Likes
Erm, I asked you to elaborate as there are certain bits in your explanation which are not all too clear.
That is exactly what I asked you to clarify as I am not aware of any such European “law”. Actually, it is quite the opposite, regulation 260/2012 stipulates that IBANs are not to be treated any different because their prefix might be a different one.
2 Likes
@Frank
thanks for the link.
It’s only affecting the “Lastschriftverfahren”, payments, in germany FROM international IBANs to DE…
Look, i elaborated. Please keep in mind that revolut attracts users from other countries where english is a “2nd language”, and not everyone speaks like some cambridge-absolvent, ok?! Also, alessandro, i wrote now many big posts about the issue explaining why/how. Maybe, if you wouldn’t be here just to oppose, you might have had the idea of doing a little research yourself? Bc. I’m pretty sure: if I’d link the swiss laws (enforced by EU) who are written in german, you wouldn’t trust my translation!!
That’s it, I’m out of this topic.
You did not I am afraid, you kept repeating something about some vague EU law which probably does not exist.
Whaaaat? 
Are you serious? I ask you a question, you dont answer and you accuse me of opposing you? You are joking, arent you.
You are talking about research but couldnt be bothered to back up any of your own claims?
Here we go, EUR-Lex - 32012R0260 - EN - EUR-Lex
As you seem to be German, here in your native language L_2012094DE.01002201.xml
1 Like
I didn’t know that it’s actually against the law to decline an IBAN within the EU.
Thank you for sharing that. I guess I’ll just sue every company I come across that doesn’t accept my GB IBAN.
Btw N26 actually has this mentioned on their support page:
It would be nice if Revolut would do something similar.
1 Like
It’s not against the law, it’s violating something that’s called SEPA regulation or rules of procedure No 260/2012. The regulation says, in my own words, that every consumer has the right to freely choose any banking service for his financial transactions, credit transfers or direct debit for example, in any of the SEPA countries (EU + Island, Liechtenstein, Norway). If a mobile phone company for example offers direct debit, they have to accept any account no that technically supports this functionality (SEPA regulation, article 9, paragraph 2.)
Conondrum: businesses are not under the oversight of financial authorities. They only regulate banks and financial institutions. Every country needs to enforce this separately. In Germany for example, this is the consumer protection agency.
@alessandro @the-mike I don’t believe there is any limit to this regarding consumer accounts. I am not aware that any company in SEPA area is obliged by law to limit transfers to local IBANs for tax purposes. It might be different for Switzerland, since Switzerland is not a “full” member of SEPA. For Switzerland, there are many exceptions. For example, Swiss banks are allowed to charge a fee for incoming international SEPA transfers. And cards are not affected by the interchange fee regulation.
Having said this, it would be more convenient if Revolut would issue local IBANs. But that’s not that easy. Revolut would probably need locally registered branches or partner banks for this, making it more costly and complex.
1 Like
Not really, the regulation (the BaFin post has the link to the EU regulation), also covers SEPA credit transfers.
Precisely, but we can consider that matter closed at this point.
More convenient would be relative. It would only be to appease a handful of institutions who are in violation of EU regulations.
As you pointed out, it is hardly feasible to issue 34 different account prefixes (and contrary to previous statements nobody does it either) to address an issue that is not an issue in the first place.
A GB IBAN works SEPA-wide and if aforementioned third parties violate EU regulations by not accepting perfectly valid IBANs, the problem is with them and one cant expect Revolut (or any bank for that matter) to fix their problems.
1 Like
Sure, I agree, that’s why I said it would be more convenient. Literally, the consumer would have less hassle. I don’t expect it to happen. It should not make a difference for SEPA EUR countries, but it does make a difference for non-EUR SEPA countries and Switzerland of course.