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Non-ES IBAN discrimination
I am a non-resident Sabadell bank ‘Key Account Plus’ holder and take exception to quarterly service charge hikes for which customers are never given reasonable notice and for which in my case now amount to 40€ per quarter
I therefore looked at other options including Wise (TransferWise) which is now listed on the London Stock Exchange and with which I have had a EUR account for years - but whose EUR operation is still domiciled in Belgium and they remain without a Spanish office
It is clear that attempting to set up Direct Debits and make online payments with a non-Spanish institution Payor can be made difficult by (for example) some utilities companies and tax Payees
Whilst illegal to discriminate under Article 9 of SEPA Regs the issue probably breaks back to some Payees’ systems requiring IBANs to begin with ES and comprise 24 characters
The Wise IBAN for example begins BE and comprises a paltry 16 characters
No wonder Spain is still rated as having the most inefficient banking system on the planet
