Standardised payment orders and IBAN account identifiers
The procedure for payments is being adjusted to the new ISO norm, which also forms the basis for the European SEPA procedure. This transition is binding on all payment service providers in Switzerland. After the end of the migration phase, the IBAN will be used exclusively as the primary identifier.
In future, payment orders will generate automatic status reports. These provide information on any errors, warnings, or corrections. To receive these status reports, the orders must be placed in ISO format.
Technical information
Under the ISO standard, payment orders are transmitted as pain.001 messages, and they generate automatic status reports in the pain.002 format. The existing DTA standard will be supported until at least mid-2018. Payment orders using the SWIFT MT standard are not affected for payment transactions in Switzerland and will continue to be supported.
IBAN as account identifier
Starting on 31 March 2020, the country-specific account number formats will be replaced by the already prevalent IBAN without exception. This minimises errors and accommodates a higher straight-through processing (STP) rate.
Our recommendation to you: Start now to convert your master data to IBAN.
