Consumers must use the new IBAN and BIC bank identification codes for SEPA Credit Transfers and Direct Debits. These codes already appear, and have done so for several years, on the “Relevé d’identité bancaire” (form setting out bank account details) that banks provide to their customers.
- Consumers giving their banks a SEPA Credit Transfer order must indicate the details of the beneficiary’s account using IBAN and BIC. Transfer beneficiaries must therefore provide payers with their bank identification details.
- Consumers giving their bank references in order to receive Credit Transfers must provide a recent “Relevé d’identité bancaire” that includes IBAN and BIC identifiers.
Consumers paying a creditor using direct debit (for example for taxes or utility bills) do not need to execute any other procedures vis-à-vis their creditors in order to switch to SEPA Direct Debits. Creditors will have to inform their debtors when they change over to the SEPA Direct Debit.
For new direct debits, the SEPA Direct Debit authorisation form (the “mandate”) is different from the current French direct debit form. Consumers must provide their bank account details, in the form of an IBAN and a BIC, and where necessary a “Relevé d’identité bancaire.”
As is already the case today, consumers’ bank account statements will allow them to monitor the transactions executed on their accounts. This document will also show SEPA transactions (SEPA Credit Transfers received and issued and SEPA Direct Debits payed).
Consumers using “CB” four-party payment cards will not need to change their cards. The vast majority of “CB” cards are already SEPA-compliant.
In France, consumers will continue to make card payments in the same way, using a chip card and a confidential code (PIN code).
Outside France, French consumers will be able to use their cards under the same conditions as in France with the merchants that accept them. All European countries have committed to migrate to chip cards (EMV standard). French cardholders performing transactions in other European countries will therefore be able to do so by keying in their PIN codes, thus increasing payment security.