Options at a glance
Apart from the standard credit and debit of standard payments, and the crediting or payment of and with foreign cheques, at Bank Austria there are more options to make payments.
UniCredit's network in Austria, Germany, Italy and Central and Eastern Europe enables particularly favourable transactions. For the standard prices for foreign payment transactions, please see the latest price list in Bank Austria branches.
Information on exchange rate pricing (foreign exchange dealing) by UniCredit Bank Austria AG
UniCredit Bank Austria AG executes payment orders for which a foreign currency needs to be converted into euros or from euros into a different foreign currency at the earliest possible exchange rate, depending on availability of the foreign currencies listed on the exchange rate list. This exchange rate is determined in line with market practice in international foreign exchange markets, no later than around noon on the business day following the date on which the order has been issued, and is published in display of exchange rates at UniCredit Bank Austria AG. This means that the exchange rate which will be applied to the payment cannot be indicated at the time when the order is issued.
For currencies which are not listed in the display of exchange rates by UniCredit Bank Austria AG, the fixing of the exchange rate will depend on the foreign correspondence bank whose services are used and this process is used accordingly by UniCredit Bank Austria AG.
Important information: The regulations of the Payment Services Act (ZaDiG) at the time of receipt and implementation deadline do not relate to the exchange rate pricing, rather to the implementation of a payment order after completion of the formation of the exchange rate.
In the case of transfers executed as same-day-value payments, the value date is fixed and the order is forwarded abroad on the same day – all the way to the payee for EUR transfers within the EEA, and up to the first correspondent bank for EUR transfers outside of the EEA or transfers in other currencies.
Transfers in EUR and in the currencies specified in the product information for same-day-value payments can easily be placed directly using an electronic banking product. Orders for other currencies or orders combined with special instructions are taken by the customer service team by arrangement.
Important information:
- The order must be placed in a timely manner (before the relevant cut-off time)
- The order may not involve a currency exchange
- The payment cannot be executed as a SEPA payment or an EU regulated payment
- This service can only be used by non-consumers
IBAN (International Bank Account Number) is a globally standardised unambiguous statement of an account relationship. It was developed by the European Committee for Bank Standards ECBS and it simplifies order processing for European payment transactions. Besides country codes, bank sorting codes and account numbers, IBAN also includes a check digit by means of which the correctness of the account number and the bank information are checked still prior to executing a payment, so that it reaches the correct recipient without delay.
Please take note that the IBAN always has to be used together with the BIC (Bank Identifier Code) that matches the bank's SWIFT address. The BIC for Bank Austria is: BKAUATWW.
For cross-border credit transfers inside the EU zone, use of the IBAN and BIC is mandatory.
IBAN cheque
Due to the high frequency of error due to incorrect data entry, Bank Austria has decided not to provide its own IBAN calculator (conversion of an account number into IBAN). Incorrect results might have the consequence that orders cannot be executed at domestic conditions or not even at all.
Please ask your payment partner for their IBAN and BIC in a timely manner or announce your IBAN and BIC when you expect incoming payments from abroad.
You will find this information in the footer of your account statement, in online banking, or you can learn this from your account manager. Stating a correct 11-digit Bank Austria account number is absolutely necessary for this.
Verification of an IBAN for its correctness is also possible on the homepage of STUZZA (Studiengesellschaft für Zusammenarbeit im Zahlungsverkehr).
As per the applicable reporting system for Austria's foreign trade, companies and persons are to send direct reports to the Austrian statistical office, Statistik Austria, bearing in mind certain thresholds.
As per the reporting regulations ZABIL 1/2004 and ZABIL 1/2005 of the Austrian National Bank, the following are to be reported:
- Direct investments (cross-border commercial stake starting at ten percent)
- Portfolio investments (securities that are not located in a securities depository at domestic banks, genuine pension transactions with securities and securities loan transactions)
- Derivatives (transactions on the futures market that are concluded with foreign partners)
- Other investments (receivables and obligations toward entities located abroad from loans and contributions)
- Asset Transfers and Properties
- Service Exports and Imports
For credit transfers to a foreign country and separately commissioned express transfers, the data specified in the credit transfer about the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), with headquarters in Belgium, is forwarded to the beneficiary's bank. There is no other company which provides these services worldwide at present, and so Austrian banks do not have any alternative for processing international payment transactions regularly other than using the services of SWIFT.
Without co-operating with SWIFT, an Austrian bank cannot offer its customers services for worldwide payment transactions. The SWIFT network used by Austrian banks meets the highest technical security requirements. For reasons of system security, SWIFT saves the transaction data provisionally in its data centres in the Netherlands and Switzerland.
On the basis of a treaty between the EU and the USA, it may happen that the data saved in the USA by SWIFT has to be disclosed to US authorities for the purpose of combating international terrorism.
