International account number for cross-border payments
From 1 January 2007 both the beneficiary’s IBAN (International Bank Account Number) and the beneficiary bank’s BIC (Bank Identifier Code) should be stated on payments between EU countries, the EEA countries Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein as well as Switzerland. This has been decided by the European Payments Council (EPC). See also information on BIC.
All payment instructions sent via Nordea to the above countries must contain both the IBAN and the BIC, irrespective of currency. If an instruction does not contain the correct information, the payment cannot be effected and will therefore be rejected.
General IBAN information
To enhance the quality and increase the proportion of cross-border payments processed automatically, a number of international banks and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have developed a standard method for identifying account numbers - called IBAN.
The IBAN is not another account number, but an internationally acknowledged and recognisable format for validating for instance your account numbers with Nordea. All accounts have an IBAN, but the number is only used for cross-border payments - mainly in Europe.
Your IBAN will appear from paper bank statements from Nordea - and from the electronic banking systems.