Bank of Valletta has introduced an IBAN Validator and IBAN Converter on its website www.bov.com. These additions enable customers to validate any international bank account number (IBAN) keyed into the website, while the BOV IBAN Converter will provide the IBAN from any valid BOV account number.

The BOV IBAN Validator and Converter is a very useful tool. The use of IBAN speeds up payments across country borders and is often associated with reduced tariffs. Details in the IBAN include the country, the bank, branch and account number, and do not necessitate any other information about the payment recipient.

The executive head responsible for payments at Bank of Valletta, John Cassar Torreggiani, said: “This initiative forms part of the bank’s strategy to encourage customers to use the IBAN when effecting both local and cross-border payment transfers. In addition to speed of service customers effecting electronic payments, instead of utilising the branch network, stand to benefit from substantially reduced tariffs.

“For example, the standard price for an Outward Payment processed at the branch to a SEPA country is €30, while the same payment can be executed through BOV Internet Banking for only e1 (if the payment amount is under e1,000) or e4 (if the payment amount is over e1,000).”

The IBAN is an international standard for identifying bank accounts across national borders. It was originally adopted by the European Committee for Banking Standards and was later adopted as an international standard. The IBAN was originally developed to facilitate payments within the European Union but the format is flexible enough to be applied globally.