Banks in Egypt switch to IBAN standard to ease cross-border transactions

Banks in Egypt switch to IBAN standard to ease cross-border transactions

Banks operating in the Egyptian market started using the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) standard last week, to facilitate the communication and processing of cross-border transactions.

An IBAN is an internationally agreed upon system of identifying bank accounts across national borders, which also ensures a reduced risk of transcription errors.

The IBAN consists of up to 34 alphanumeric characters comprising a country code; two check digits; and a number that includes the domestic bank account number, branch identifier, and potential routing information. The check digits enable a check of the bank account number to confirm its integrity before submitting a transaction.

For Egypt, the IBAN consists of 29 alphanumeric characters, including two digits for the country code, two check digits, and the domestic bank account code.

Banks operating in the Egyptian market started to send messages to their customers with information on the IBAN code at the end of last week. Customers can also communicate with customer service of their banks or use Internet banking to obtain their IBAN code.

In May 2020, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced it has registered with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) for the implementation of the IBAN. This comes in accordance with