What's an IBAN?
IBAN stands for International Bank Account Number and is a number attached to all EU bank accounts. You can find out more about them here.
What does a bunq IBAN look like?
bunq is an online bank that is based in Amsterdam 🚲 which explains why the country code in the beginning of your IBAN is NL, for The Netherlands 🇳🇱. It is then followed by a two-digit check number, bunq’s bank code which is the first four letters of bunq’s BIC/SWIFT code (BUNQNL2A) and finally the ten-digit account number.
e.g. NLXX BUNQ XXXX XXXX XX
You can find more information about your account details here.
Which IBANs are accepted?
Like any other IBAN provided by a bank within the SEPA region (Single Euro Payment Area), your bunq IBAN should be accepted by merchants or employers since European countries have agreed on this simplified IBAN system to facilitate international transfers within Europe.
What does this mean?
This simply means that if merchants or employers don’t want to accept your bunq IBAN because of its country code, length or any other reason, they are violating European law as of 1 February 2016 (Article 9 of Regulation No 260/2012) and doing what we call IBAN discrimination.
What should you do if your NL IBAN is still not accepted?
In this unlikely situation, you should take the following steps:
1. Try to inform the merchant or employer in question that this is not legal.
2. If they ignore it, you should contact your relevant national authority and provide them with a detailed explanation of the situation with your contact details and all the information you have about the merchant or employer.
In the Netherlands, you can file a complaint for IBAN discrimination on the DNB website.
Note that it’s always a good idea to add a written proof of the rejection like a document copy or screenshot. 📸
Want to learn more?
Explore more bunq knowledge here. 🌈
