Swift has been selected by the UK’s Payments Council to provide the country’s Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa) international bank account number (IBAN) Only central infrastructure platform.

The new platform will enable the accurate derivation of BICs from IBANs, a key requirement for financial institutions in Sepa wishing to initiate euro payments to the UK once the Sepa IBAN Only regulation (EC 260/2012) comes into force in 2016.

In the absence of a current central UK data source for Sepa specific routing requirements and with the removal of the reliance on customers to provide their bank BIC, planned for 2016, the Payments Council opted for the provision of an automated central infrastructure platform for collection and maintenance of UK-specific Sepa routing data. 

Through this public platform, financial institutions in the UK will be able to publish and maintain at any time Sepa routing data specific to their organisation. This measure will ensure that financial institutions in Sepa countries are equipped to accurately route euro-payments to their peers in the UK.

The infrastructure will build on elements of Swift’s worldwide reference data utility, SwiftRef, which is currently used by over 5,500 financial institutions and 500 corporates globally. From an architectural, software and data management perspective, the UK platform will be highly flexible and will accommodate the growth of new services and functions in line with the pace of change in the UK.

“Efficient and cost-effective Sepa compliance is a key priority for all players in the Sepa zone and, at the same time, an operational challenge for UK financial institutions. We believe the new platform enabled by Swift will deliver significant benefits by easing data management and ensuring accurate euro-payments routing to our community,” said Maurice Cleaves, interim CEO of the Payments Council.

“Swift is delighted to have been selected for this exemplary Sepa initiative by the Payments Council in the UK,” says Arun Aggarwal, head of UKI & Nordics at Swift. “Sepa compliance is critical for the whole UK community and with this initiative the Payments Council sets a prime example of how national communities can rely on our global SwiftRef platform for managing their national data needs.”