As the SEPA February 2016 deadline approaches, we need to remember that there are many components to a SEPA Direct Debit implementation. In the SEPA Direct Debit Key Considerations post, i’ve highlighted all of the mandatory fields that you need to capture. One of those fields is the SEPA Creditor Identifier, which i will cover here.
What is the SEPA Creditor Identifier?
In short, its a way of identifying the creditor (i.e. the party initiating the direct debit /collection). Both the Creditor Identifier and the Mandate Id gives the debtor bank (bank from whom you are collecting funds / direct debiting) the ability to check if a valid SEPA Direct Debit mandate is in place.
Keep in mind, that this check is optional under the SEPA Direct Debit Core scheme – i.e. the check will only be performed by the debtor bank if the debtor (customer who you’re debiting) specifically asks his/her bank to verify the SEPA Direct Debit Mandate has been set up OR transferred from a legacy direct debit collection process. The SEPA Direct Debit Mandate check is however compulsory under the SEPA Direct Debit B2B scheme.
The Creditor Identifier is typically assigned at a legal entity level, and is normally assigned within / by the country of the legal entity. Obtaining the Creditor Identifier differs by country, and can take anything from a few days to a few weeks. Keep in mind that in countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain where there is a need to migrate legacy direct debit schemes to SEPA direct debit scheme you should request the SEPA Creditor Id ahead of time.
SEPA Creditor Identifier By Country:
Austria – SEPA Creditor Identifier (CID):
- Get it from your in-country bank
- The Austrian Creditor Identifier (CID) is 18 characters long, where characters :
- 1 – 2: ISO Country Code (AT – Austria)
- 3 – 4: Check Digit
- 5 – 7: Creditor Business Code – you (Creditor) choose this. The default is ZZZ
- 8 – 18: Creditor National Identifier – basically a consecutive number that will be assigned to you, with leading zeros
Belgium – SEPA Creditor Identifier (CI):
- Get it from your in-country bank
- The Belgian Creditor Identifier (CI) is 20 characters long, where characters :
- 1 – 2: ISO Country Code (BE – Belgium)
- 3 – 4: Check Digit
- 5 – 7: Creditor Business Code – you (Creditor) choose this. The default is ZZZ
- 8 – 18: Creditor National Identifier – in Belgium, this could be:
- VAT number, if applicable
- Where no VAT number is available the bank will assign this as follows – characters:
- 8-10: Bank Identifier
- 11: Fixed Value – ‘D’
- 12-20: Consecutive number provided by the bank
France – SEPA Creditor Identifier:
- Get it from your in-country bank
- Note: Your bank will request the Creditor Identifier from the French Central Bank (Banque de France)
- The French Creditor Identifier is 13 characters long, where characters :
- 1 – 2: ISO Country Code (FR – France)
- 3 – 4: Check Digit
- 5 – 7: Creditor Business Code – you (Creditor) choose this. The default is ZZZ
- 8 – 18: Creditor National Identifier – in France this will be your NNE (Numéro National d’Emetteur)
Germany – SEPA Creditor Identifier:
- You (the Creditor) will have to request the SEPA Creditor Identifier via the Deutsche Bundesbank’s website via either of the following links:
- The German Creditor Identifier is 18 characters long, where characters :
- 1 – 2: ISO Country Code (DE – Germany)
- 3 – 4: Check Digit
- 5 – 7: Creditor Business Code – you (Creditor) choose this. The default is ZZZ
- 8 – 18: Creditor National Identifier – a consecutive number that will be assigned to you, with leading zeros
Portugal – SEPA Creditor Identifier:
- You (the Creditor) will have to request the SEPA Creditor Identifier from SIBS (the Portuguese Local Clearing House) – via email: sac@suporte@sibs.pt –> Please check this with your local bank
- The Portuguese Creditor Identifier is 13 characters long, where characters :
- 1 – 2: ISO Country Code (PT – Portugal)
- 3 – 4: Check Digit
- 5 – 7: Creditor Business Code – you (Creditor) choose this. The default is ZZZ
- 8 – 13: Creditor National Identifier – assigned by SIBS
Spain – SEPA Creditor Identifier:
- You (the Creditor) will have to determine your SEPA Creditor Identifier code –> Please check this with your local bank
- The Spanish Creditor Identifier is 16 characters long, where characters :
- 1 – 2: ISO Country Code (ES – Spain)
- 3 – 4: Check Digit
- 5 – 7: Creditor Business Code – you (Creditor) choose this. The default is ZZZ
- 8 – 16: Creditor National Identifier – made up of:
- 8: a letter indicating the legal entity
- 9-15: 7 digits – indicating province / legal entity
- 16: check code
Netherlands – SEPA Creditor Identifier:
- Get it from your in-country bank
- The Netherlands Creditor Identifier is 19 characters long, where characters :
- 1 – 2: ISO Country Code (NL – Netherlands)
- 3 – 4: Check Digit
- 5 – 7: Creditor Business Code – you (Creditor) choose this. The default is ZZZ
- 8 – 15: Creditor Trade Register Number (KvK Number issed by the Dutch Chamber of Commerce). If the KvK Number is not available, an equivalent Betaalvereninging (DVB) number will be requested by your bank
- 16-19: Rolling number assigned by the Creditor Bank
I’d be interested to hear of your experiences getting the Creditor Identifier. Let me know how you’ve got on with it….
Regarding the issuance of creditor identifiers in The Netherlands: does this mean, that should you hold accounts with several banks you will have different CIs with each bank or can you just apply for the CI at one bank and use this CI for debit collections with accounts at other dutch banks as well?
hi Barbara,
not sure i get your question. but its up to YOU how many Creditor Id’s you have. You can have 1 or 100 (exaggerating a little!), the important thing to note is that the Creditor Id identifies you as the company issuing the direct debit. You can use 1 creditor id with multiple banks. You don’t need a creditor id for each bank.
The Creditor Id is bank/ bank account/ country independent.
hope that helps..
Dear Admin,
I would like to find out how to apply for a NNE for France.
Regards
Lorna
hi Lorna – please contact your bank in France and they will be able to help you retrieve a Creditor Id.
It would be good to know how quick/slow it takes….
Good luck!
Am setting up SEPA in SAP and would like to know how the check digit is calculated. Could you supply an example?
Particularly I am interested in the Spanish numbering as they have two check digits as I understand it.
Thanks for your help!
Hi.
For Spanish Creditor’s Identifier, can I add as many 0’s as I will need to obtain 35 characters for it. For example, to calculate the ID I use DNI/CIF + 19 zeros and then I do Mod97-10 algorithm. It’s correct? Is mandatory to use only 16 characters in Spain. Is mandatory to use 8-16 characters for Check Digit calculation?
Thank you.
Hi Joel,
You cannot add as many zero’s as you wish. The Creditor Id is made up of the following elements:
Rule
Positions 1 to 2: ISO country code (ES for Spain)
Positions 3 to 4: Check digit
Positions 5 to 7: Creditor business code (to be assigned by creditor)
Positions 8 to 16: National identifier. The national identifier is made up of
– Position 1 indicates type of legal entity
– Next 2 numbers idenfity the province
– Following 5 characters legal entity in the province’s register
– Finally a check code that can be a letter or a number
The check code element can be confusing. To avoid all doubt ask your bank for help, thats what they are there for! Also, you can verify your Creditor Id via the following website:
http://www.maric.info/fin/SEPA/ddchkden.htm
Hope that helps and Good luck!
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Hi,
We have a company and bank account in Holland and would like to use SEPA DD to collect from our customers. However we want to collect to our main bank in Frankfurt, Germany. We will setup an account there in the name of the Dutch company to receive payments and send collections from.
My question: Where will I need to get the Creditor ID from? Holland or Germany? My legal entity is located in Holland – but the bank account in Germany.
Thanks.
Hi,
Great question! Remember the Creditor Id is a unique identifier, identifying YOU as the corporate presenting the direct debit to your customer. The creditor id is independent of your bank account and can be used throughout the SEPA zone.
So in my opinion, it makes most sense for you to apply for the Creditor Id in Holland, given that is where you legal entity is and where I’m guessing most of your customers are. But actually, it doesn’t really matter you could apply for a Creditor Id in either Holland or Germany.
Check out this Creditor Identifier article from the EPC website which gives you all the details. But essentially Javier and Herman answer your question…”A creditor identifier issued in one SEPA country can be used in all SEPA countries”.
Hope that helps.
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Hello, we are a US based company and would like to start SEPAdirectDebit. Do we need this creditorID? If yes, where do we have to go?
Thanks,
Jim
Hi,
Can someone help me to get a creditor identifier in Malta.
What is the policy for the identifier in Romania? And format, please
Hello, if I have company registrated in country X can I use creditor IT issued in country Y?
thank you
hi, I need SEPA Company for make corporate business.
The details you are showing regarding France are inconsistent.
“The French Creditor Identifier is 13 characters long” vs “8 – 18: Creditor National Identifier”.
Would you pls correct that?!
Hi I want to know more about Sepa corporates