Dear Customers,

Regulation 2015/847 of the European Union enters into force and is applicable as of 26 June 2017. This funds transfer regulation lays down rules on the information on payers and payees for the purposes of detecting and preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.

The scope of the Regulation shall apply to transfers of funds, in any currency, which are sent or received by a payment service provider or an intermediary payment service provider located in the European Union, which are at least partially carried out by electronic means. Credit Transfers and Direct Debits are equally addressed.

Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD, being a payment service provider within the European Union, has the obligation to verify if all incoming and outgoing as well as pass through transactions carry complete information on the payer and the payee. In addition, all incoming payments in favour of customers of Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD where at least one of the participants in the transaction (payer, correspondent bank etc.) is located out of the European Union/EEA must be verified in matters of correspondence between beneficiary’s name and account number.

Therefore, as of 26 June 2017, according to the present Regulation, all payment transactions in any currency – must provide the following information:

Payer/Payee: In case the payment is within the European Union/EEA

• Account Number or IBAN (or unique transaction identifier - UTI in case, that the payment is a cash transfer)
• Name

Payer/Payee: In case the payment is out of the European Union/EEA

• Account Number or IBAN (or unique transaction identifier - UTI in case, that the payment is a cash transfer)
• Name
• Address or official personal document number, customer identification number or date and place of birth

In case that one of the payment service providers is located out of the EU/EEA, complete information on both payer and payee has to be provided.

Implications of non-compliance or in case of incomplete information

Payment transactions that do not comply with this regulatory guideline in terms of complete information on the payer and the payee might be delayed or rejected. This applies for all outgoing payments, where a bank located out of the European Union/EEA is involved as well as incoming payments, where Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD has to verify the accuracy of the provided information.

We kindly ask you to comply with the rules of the present Regulation in order your transactions to be processed without any delays.

Thank you for your cooperation!

Sincerely yours,
Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD