File Format Information

We’ve made some updates to how payment files are formatted. You can find all the details in the documents below:

Here are the main changes:

SEPA Credit Transfer Bulk Payment File

Main changes in the new AIB SCT Bulk File Specification; available from March 2024 “pain.001.001.09”
Field Name	Required Change
Encoding	PAIN Name changes to “pain.001.001.09” Each file must start with: <?xml version=”1.0” encoding=”UTF-8”?><Document xmlns=”urn:iso:std:iso:20022:tech:xsd:pain.001.001.09” xmlns:xsi=”http://www. w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance”>
Requested Execution Date	Inclusion of new “Dt” tag within the XPath.
Debtor Agent BIC	''BIC” changes to “BICFI” within the Xpath.
Creditor Agent BIC	“BIC” changes to “BICFI” within the Xpath.
Creditor Postal Address	There is a new Structured and Hybrid address format. Structured format will consist of 4 fields. These include: Creditor Postal Address Street Name Creditor Postal Address Post Code Creditor Postal Address Town Name  Creditor Postal Address Country  Hybrid format will consist of at least 3 fields. These include: Creditor Postal Address Town Name  Creditor Postal Address Country  Creditor Postal Address Line 1 Creditor Postal Address Line 2(Optional) *Please review the relevant bulk file specification for more information.
Remittance Data (Unstructured)	A new business rule applies if you choose to populate this field. *Please review the relevant bulk file specification for more information.
	New SEPA Usage Rule(s): Either “AnyBIC”, “LEI” and/or one occurrence of “Other” is allowed.
Debtor Organisation BIC	“BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath.
Debtor Organisation LEI	This is a new field that you can choose to populate if required.
Ultimate Debtor Organisation BIC	This is a new field that you can choose to populate if required.
Ultimate Debtor Organisation LEI	This is a new field that you can choose to populate if required.
	New SEPA Usage Rule(s): Either “AnyBIC”, “LEI” or one occurrence of “Other” is allowed.
Creditor Organisation BIC	“BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath.
Creditor Organisation LEI	“BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath.
Ultimate Creditor Organisation BIC	“BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath.
Ultimate Creditor Organisation LEI	This is a new field that you can choose to populate if required.

SEPA Direct Debit Bulk Payment File

Main changes in the new AIB SDD Bulk File Specification; available from March 2024 “pain.008.001.08”
Field Name	Required Change
Encoding	PAIN Name changes to “pain.008.001.08” Each file must start with: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><Document xmlns=”urn:iso:std:iso:20022:tech:xsd:pain.008.001.08” xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/ XMLSchema-instance”>
Creditor Agent BIC	“BIC” changes to “BICFI” within the Xpath.
	New SEPA Usage Rule(s): Either “AnyBIC”, “LEI” or one occurrence of “Other” is allowed.
Ultimate Creditor Organisation BIC	'“BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath.
Ultimate Creditor Organisation LEI	This is a new field that you can choose to populate if required.
Mandate Original Debtor Agent	“BIC” changes to “BICFI” within the Xpath.
Debtor Agent BIC	“BIC” changes to “BICFI” within the Xpath.
Debtor Postal Address	There is a new Structured and Hybrid address format. Structured format consists of 4 fields. These include: Debtor Postal Address Street Name  Debtor Postal Address Post Code Debtor Postal Address Town Name  Debtor Postal Address Country    Hybrid format consists of at least 3 fields. These include:   Debtor Postal Address Town Name  Debtor Postal Address Country  Debtor Postal Address Line Debtor Postal Address Line 2(Optional) *Please review the relevant bulk file specification for more information.
	New SEPA Usage Rule(s): Either “AnyBIC”, “LEI” and/or one occurrence of “Other” is allowed.
Debtor Organisation BIC	“BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath.
Debtor Organisation LEI	This is a new field that you can choose to populate if required.
Ultimate Debtor Organisation BIC	“BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath.
Ultimate Debtor Organisation LEI	This is a new field that you can choose to populate if required.
Remittance Data (Unstructured)	A new business rule applies if you choose to populate this field. *Please review the relevant bulk file specification for more information.

Multi-Currency Bulk Payment File

Main changes in the new AIB MCY Bulk File Specification; available from March 2024 “pain.001.001.09”
Field Name	Required Change
Encoding	PAIN Name changes to “pain.001.001.09” Each file must start with: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <Document xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance” xmlns=”urn:iso:std:iso:20022:tech:xsd:pain.001.001.09”>
Requested Execution Date	Inclusion of new “Dt” tag within the XPath.
Debtor Agent BIC	“BIC” changes to “BICFI” within the Xpath.
Creditor Agent BIC	“BIC” changes to “BICFI” within the Xpath.
Multi-Currency Creditor Agent Clearing Code	*Only applicable for Non-SCT payments Character length reduced from 35 to 28
Creditor Postal Address	There is a new Structured and Hybrid address format Structured format consists of 4 fields. These include:   Creditor Postal Address Street Name  Creditor Postal Address Post Code Creditor Postal Address Town Name  Creditor Postal Address Country   Hybrid format consists of at least 3 fields. These include:   Creditor Postal Address Town Name  Creditor Postal Address Country  Creditor Postal Address Line 1 Creditor Postal Address Line 2(Optional) *Please review the relevant bulk file specification for more information.
Multi-Currency Creditor Bank Account	*Only applicable for Non-SCT payments Character length reduced from 35 to 34
Purpose Code	Either the Purpose Code or Purpose Proprietary is mandatory for non SCT payments and one of these tags must be included in your file. This is an optional field for SCT payments. *Please review the relevant bulk file specification for more information.
Purpose Proprietary	Either the Purpose Proprietary or Purpose Code is mandatory for non SCT payments and one of these tags must be included in your file. This is an optional field for SCT payments. *Please review the relevant bulk file specification for more information.
Remittance Data (Unstructured)	This field is only mandatory for payments made from a 238590 account and must contain a purpose of payment e.g. wages A new business rule applies if you choose to populate this field. This is an optional field for SCT payments. *Please review the relevant bulk file specification for more information.
	New SEPA Usage Rule(s): Either “AnyBIC”, “LEI” and/or one occurrence of “Other” is allowed.
Debtor Organisation BIC	“BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath.
Debtor Organisation LEI	“BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath
Ultimate Debtor Organisation BIC	''BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath
Ultimate Debtor Organisation LEI	This is a new field that you can choose to populate if required.
	New SEPA Usage Rule(s): Either “AnyBIC”, “LEI” or one occurrence of “Other” is allowed.
Creditor Organisation BIC	“BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath.
Creditor Organisation LEI	This is a new field that you can choose to populate if required.
Ultimate Creditor Organisation BIC	“BICOrBEI” changes to “AnyBIC” within the Xpath.
Ultimate Creditor Organisation LEI	This is a new field that you can choose to populate if required.
Unpaid Error Codes	Addition of new unpaid error codes *Please review the relevant bulk file specification for more information.

How to Test Your Files?

We’ve teamed up with XMLdation, a trusted Finnish company, to offer a free online testing tool. This tool helps you check if your payment files are set up correctly for the new format.
Available 24/7, all year round
Easy to use — just click here to register
You can find the XMLdation user guide here

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