You can make transfers and payments in Europe and in the SEPA-zone, using your online banking, around the clock. SEPA, which stands for Single Euro Payments Area, has harmonised the way payment transactions are made in Europe since 2014. Payments in euros are made securely in this way using the personal account. For making payments there are various types of orders, e.g. the standing order SEPA, to process recurring payments.
The SEPA zone
SEPA comprises the countries of the eurozone: Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Cyprus.
The following countries of the EU are included for euro payments: Bulgaria, Denmark, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Czech Republic and Hungary.
The following countries of the European Economic Area (EEA) are included: Great Britain, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. In addition, Switzerland, Monaco and San Marino St. Pierre and Miquelon, Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man.
Questions & answers
For payment orders SEPA, you will need the IBAN of the payee and your own IBAN. All payments SEPA are made in Euros within the SEPA zone. The BIC and IBAN are given on your debit card.
Direct debit is issued for recurring payments, the amounts of which change every time (for example phone bills). Users also have the option to cancel the direct debit within 8 weeks. Existing debit entries and direct debit authorisations are changed by the payee. The payee is identified by the Creditor ID. The mandate is the agreement between the payment partners. The mandate reference identifies the respective payment, for example, the membership number or policy number. With this information, direct debit SEPA can be specifically blocked at the bank if required or revoked by the payee.
Apart from the 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. Bank Austria is at your side as a competent partner, with an extensive network of the UniCredit Group in Austria, Germany, Italy and Central and Eastern Europe. For the standard prices for outgoing payments, 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 Bank Austria. 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 Bank Austria, the fixing of exchange rate will depend on the foreign correspondence bank whose services are used and this process cannot be influenced 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 exchange rate.
Questions & answers
Intra EU cross-border transactions mean all cross-border transactions within the EU are carried out at the charges for domestic transfers if they fulfil the following criteria.
Criteria
- Transfer currency is the euro.
- No amount limit.
- Bank details of the recipient must be specified in the form of a valid IBAN. A BIC that is specified has no effect on the execution.
- Payments within EU-countries and the EEA countries Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
- Expenses within the country shall always be borne by the customer, expenses abroad shall always be borne by the recipient.
- Without special instructions (e.g. “Advice”, “Urgent”).
Note
According to the SWIFT standards, every foreign transfer order must have an indication of the charges. For-intra EU cross-border transactions, analogous to the domestic payment transactions, “Shared charges” is defined as a standard.
In Austria, the charges for domestic transfers are specified in the account maintenance conditions. In other EU member states, transaction charges are also applicable which are charged immediately per transaction for a domestic transfer. The EU foreign recipient must pay only those charges in intra-EU cross-border transactions that are incurred for incoming payments from within the country itself. However, these charges differ for every country.
In non-euro countries, transfers as charged as foreign currency transfers within the country (according to EU regulation 2560/2001). This is also applicable if the customer maintains a EUR account there (= foreign currency account).
Additional information for intra EU cross-border transactions
Cross-border within EU-countries and EEA states*: Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France (incl. French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, Reunion, St. Barthelemy, St. Martin - French part), Greece, Ireland, Iceland *, Italy, Croatia, Latvia, Liechtenstein*, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway*, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Cyprus.
The basics: IBAN and BIC for cross-border transfers
For the quick execution of your cross border payment transfer, you must have IBAN and BIC. The IBAN is an internationally standardised code for a bank account. It includes the country code, the bank and account details and a security code (e.g.: AT51 1200 0123 4567 8900).
The BIC is the identification code of a bank used worldwide which is also often termed as a SWIFT-Code. For Bank Austria the BIC is: BKAUATWW.
Personal IBAN and BIC for customers of Bank Austria are given on the account statements (top right), in online banking (under financial status - transaction list) and on the bank card.
You can also make cross-border transfers via phone banking on 050505-15.
IBAN Calculator
Bank Austria has made a decision not to provide its own IBAN calculator. Hence, the IBAN must be enquired directly from the beneficiary.
In this way, you can make transfers
- regardless of the amount
- in any currency
- worldwide.
For transfers to a foreign country and separately commissioned express transfers, the data specified in the 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 USA.
Therefore, 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.
The reason for providing this information is an order by the Austrian Data Protection Authority with reference to the legal norms.
