In the context of SEPA, banks are confronted with a clear business need to assist customers in their migration towards a fully SEPA compliant context. This means that users will need to alter

their internal working method to manage counterparties. SEPA introduces the requirement to use an IBAN & BIC-code instead of the old structured account numbers in BBAN format(*).  We start from the assumption that it is better to always provide a BIC-code, even if a bank offers this optionally as a value added service.

(*)BBAN format is the bank account format like (XXX-XXXXXXX-XX).

The Counterparty Converter Tool addresses following business needs:

• ERP packages have a lot of old account numbers that need to be replaced by the new IBAN account numbers + BIC-codes. The conversion tool allows an output & input stream from an ERP package in structured XML or TXT. The converted files will contain both old and new account numbers.

• Customers could have the intention to have a one-shot conversion of an old account number in a new one + BIC-code.

The scope is limited to the Belgian case as it is already today, both ERP packages and Isabel databases offer the possibility to store IBAN & BIC for non-Belgian accounts.

You can download the users’ manual here.

You can download the tool, as a Windows Installer Package, here.