Turkey introduces IBAN

Turkey has introduced the practice of International Bank Account Number (IBAN) for cross-border money transactions as of January 1, 2010.

Originally developed within the European Union to generate account numbers in a recognizable format across Europe for easier transactions, the IBAN uses 26 alphanumeric characters that refer to a single account. The system sets fixed length and a fixed position for account numbers that very between countries.

The IBAN intends to facilitate automatic processing of money transfers and prevent money sending to wrong accounts. The practice will not be necessary for credit card payments, monthly electric, heating oil and water bills plus money transfer in name.