International Payments FAQs

The cost of an International Payment is based on AIB's charge and the charges of other banks involved in the transfer, such as Intermediary (Agent) banks and the Receiving bank.

All International Payments submitted using the AIB Internet Banking channel are made on a "Shared/SHA" charging basis. This means that you, the Sender of the payment pays the AIB charge and the Receiver of the payment pays all the other bank charges (i.e. the Receiving bank and any Agent Bank charges) which may be deducted from the amount before it is credited to the Receiver's Account. This means that the full amount of the payment may not be credited to the Receiver's account.

Please note that under EU legislation Intermediary (Agent) banks may not deduct any charges from EEA Currency payments to EEA* destinations. The full amount of the payment must be transferred to the Receiver's Bank. The Receiver's Bank may, subject to agreement with the Receiver, deduct their fee from the payment amount before they credit the Receiver's Account.

Intermediary (Agent) Banks or the Receiver's Bank may charge where amendments/investigations/cancellations to payment instructions are requested.

*EEA= EU Member States and Norway Iceland and Liechtenstein.

AIB charges for International Payments are detailed under the Frequently Asked Question "What is a Paylink?" and "What is a Paylink Euro?" . For more information on International Payments please refer to the Schedule of International Transactions Charges brochure, available in your branch or on this site.

In addition to the international payment charge, account transaction fees will apply.

Paylink Euro payments are International Payments in euro to a SEPA zone country i.e. EU Member States and Monaco, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, San Marino and Switzerland. To qualify for the Paylink Euro Standard product the receiver's bank must be reachable via the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) Scheme.

For Product Description & Pricing for Paylink Euro on AIB Internet Banking, please click here

Paylink payments can be sent in all major currencies to most destinations world-wide on a standard or urgent basis.

For Product Description & Pricing for Paylink on AIB Internet Banking, please click here

1. Click 'Transfers and Payments' on the left of the screen.

2. Click 'I want to transfer money internationally' and click 'start'

3. From the drop down menu select the currency, destination and payment type, then click 'next'. 

4. Select the account you would like to debit and click 'next'.  

5. Complete the receiver information in the spaces provided and click 'next' 

6. Read through the form again to ensure that you have entered all information correctly.

7. Enter the code from your AIB Code Card or AIB Card Reader and click 'confirm' to complete the transfer.
    

The status of your payments may be viewed in 'My Payment Logs', located within the 'Transfer & Payments' section on the left of the screen.

Learn more about AIB Code Card

Learn more about the AIB Card Reader

International Payments can be made from a suitable account already set up on your AIB Internet Banking profile.

While inputting your Payment details, there is a drop down option which will show you a list of the accounts that you can make International Payments from.

The maximum amount that may be transferred is limited in aggregate to €10,000 for personal users, and €30,000 for business users*, in any business day and the preceding non-business day period.
 

*Customers registered for AIB Internet Banking who hold at least one open suitable designated AIB Business account.

Enter the payment amount in space provided. The format allows for the decimal place.
The exception to this is Japanese Yen (JPY), which has no decimal places in its currency.

The Bank Identifier Code (BIC), is a unique identification code for a specific financial institution. BIC codes consist of either 8 or 11 alphanumeric characteristics.
 

AIBs BIC is AIBKIE2D.
 

Based on payment instructions together with the receiver's International Bank Account Number (IBAN), the BIC facilitates streamlined processing of International payments.

BIC codes consist of either 8 or 11 alphanumeric characters and can be verified using the following website: www.swift.com/biconline

The 'International Bank Account Number' or 'IBAN' is a standard for quoting account numbers across Europe. The use of an IBAN and the beneficiary bank BIC code (Bank Identifier Code) enables your International Payment to be made automatically and ensures the correct identification of your receiver's bank account.
 

How will the IBAN be identified?

An IBAN contains additional characters in front of a normal recipient domestic account number. These characters consist of a 2-letter country code followed by a 2-digit check number.
For Example: IBAN AT611904300234573201
 

Using IBAN on Payment Instructions

Please note that the IBAN in printed format (such as an invoice) is likely to be prefaced by the word IBAN e.g. IBAN AT611904300234573201

• You should NOT enter the word IBAN on any input to the bank.
• You should not include any spaces when quoting the IBAN. The IBAN should be presented as a continuous string of alphanumeric characters i.e. AT611904300234573201
   

Lengths and formats of IBANs across Europe

There are standard lengths and formats of alphanumeric characters for IBANs in respect of each country - e.g. in Ireland, the standard is 22 characters. When completing payment instructions, please ensure that the receiver's IBAN corresponds in length to the IBAN length.

The following are the currencies currently available on AIB Internet Banking for making transfers using the Paylink (Standard and Urgent) forms:
 

*Effective from 05^th October 2017, these currencies will be made available under Paylink Urgent currencies.

A cut-off time is the latest time on any business day that AIB can effect a payment in a particular currency for the payment execution timeframe indicated in our product descriptions. E.g. A Paylink Urgent payment in GBP received by AIB via AIB Internet Banking channel before 15.00 hours can be processed for execution to the Receiver for same business day i.e. the minimum execution timeframe will be same business day. If it is received after 15.00 hours it may be processed for execution on the next business day i.e. the minimum execution timeframe will be 1 business day.

*Paylink Euro (standard) payments in Euro to a SEPA zone country up to a maximum of €10,000 (Personal Users) and €30,000 (Business Users) made before 2.00pm on a Business day may be credited to the Beneficiary bank the Same Business Day.

Payments up to a maximum of €10,000 (Personal Users) and €30,000 (Business Users) made after 2.00pm on a Business day will be credited to the Beneficiary bank the Next Business Day

The cut-off times for outgoing International Payments initiated on AIB Internet Banking are listed below.
 

Please be aware that these cut-off times are meant as a guide and may change, in particular over the Christmas & New Year period.

A Business day means a day (other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday) on which we are generally open for business in Ireland and, where in relation to execution timeframes in respect of a payment to an account with another bank, a day on which the payee's bank is also open for business.

Whilst AIB will process your payment requests on receipt, please note that due to local banking practices in certain regions of the world such as Africa, South America, Caribbean and areas of the Middle East and Asia, delivery times and service standards may vary.
 

Note: AIB’s minimum execution timeframes** for payments are indicative only. AIB does not guarantee that the payment will reach the receiving bank within the indicated minimum execution timeframe. Delivery times may vary. AIB is not responsible for failure for the receiving bank to pass on the payment to the receiver.

AIB’s maximum execution timeframes for payments represent the maximum execution cycle permitted by law for payments in EEA currencies within the EEA. The actual execution timeframes are more likely to be reflected by the minimum execution cycles indicated.

**Execution timeframe is a minimum of same business day and a maximum of 1 business day subject to cut off times for EUR payments.

Execution timeframes for EEA Currency payments to EEA countries a minimum of 2 business days and a maximum of 4 business days subject to cut off times.

For more information on International Payments please refer to the Schedule of International Transactions Charges brochure, available in your branch or on this site.

Cut-Off Times for receipt of payments from Sepa Zone(1) and Other EEA Currencies (Subject to value date requested on the payment)

Cut-Off Times for receipt of payments in non-Sepa currencies (Subject to value date requested on the payment)

(1)  SEPA zone = EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino and Switzerland.     Other EEA currencies, supported by AIB, are: CHF - Swiss Franc,  CZK – Czech Koruna,  DKK –Danish Krone, HUF – Hungarian Forint,  NOK – Norwegian Krone,  PLN – Polish Zloty,  SEK – Swedish Krona.

SPOT*=  2 working days
SDV*  =  Same Day Value

NDV*  =  Next Day Value

Please note that currency payments received after the cut-off time for that currency will receive value 1 day later than the value applied to payments received prior to cut-off time.

An exchange rate is applied to an International Payment, when the currency of the payment is different to the currency of the debit or credit account. Standard exchange rates  which are applicable on the relevant business day quoted are available to view online at www.aib.ie. These variable exchange rates change are subject to change at any time.

In order to ensure that your outgoing international payment is made correctly you should have the following minimum information:
 

(a)The name and address of the Receiver to whom you are transferring the funds.

(b)Either the BIC or the full name and address of the foreign bank    branch at which the Receiver maintains their bank account.

(c)The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) or normal bank account number of the Receiver's Account with the foreign bank.

(d)The national bank code (where available) of the bank branch at which the Receiver's Account is maintained. This is not required if an IBAN is provided.
 

Please ensure that the information provided is accurate and complete. Failure to provide the correct information may result in your International Payment being returned to your account for a lesser amount due to foreign bank fees and charges and/or exchange rate losses.
 

For further detailed information on country specific formatting requirements, please click here.

IBAN and BIC are mandatory for all International euro payments to SEPA zone countries. For incoming and outgoing non SEPA International Payments, AIB recommends using the IBAN and BIC where they are available. 

For SEPA payments you will need to provide the IBAN. BIC is no longer mandatory for SEPA payments.

We are unable to send payments to certain destinations. If the country you wish to send a payment to does not appear in the Country drop-down list in the payment input screen, please contact your local branch for more information.

The status of a payment can be viewed in the 'Payment Logs'.
 

This can be accessed by clicking 'Transfers & Payments' on the left of the screen.
'My Payments Logs' tab is at the top of this screen.

If your International Payment on AIB Internet Banking displays a status of 'Rejected' and you need to establish the reason for this, please contact 0818 724 724 or if calling from outside the Republic of Ireland, please contact + 353 1 771 2424

AIB uses unique references for all incoming and outgoing international payments that are either credited to or debited from your account. There are two different types of references for outgoing International Payments as follows:
 

1. 'SP' Reference:
   'SP' stands for 'Sent Payment'. It is AIB's unique bank reference that is applied to your payment once the instruction has been accepted for processing by our International Payments Processing area, e.g. SP11010112345678.
   
   

2. 'OSCT' Reference:
   It is AIB's unique bank reference that is applied when an outgoing SEPA payment is debited from your account. It is a 16 alphanumeric AIB payment reference number for SEPA zone payments. Other outgoing international transfers will continue to use the SP references.
    

If you have any queries relating to International Payments, please ensure to quote the reference. For any queries, please contact 0818 724 724 or if calling from outside the Republic of Ireland, please contact + 353 1 771 2424.

A CLABE (Clave Bancaria Estandarizada), is an 18-digit number, to uniquely identify Mexican account holders, to guarantee the correct posting of electronic payments. The CLABE is assigned to each bank account in Mexico.

An IFSC code (Indian Financial System Code) is an 11 character alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies a bank-branch in India.

A PIN (Postal Index number) is a 6 digit postal code which helps to identify the location of the bank-branch in India.

International Payments and certain domestic payments are made by AIB via the Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). SWIFT processes payments on behalf of financial institutions worldwide and is currently the only organisation providing such a service. All transactions processed in Belgium are replicated in a backup system ('mirror site') in the United States of America (US). Maintaining a geographically separated back-up infrastructure to ensure continued operation is in line with international standards and supervisory requirements.
 

On foot of official subpoena(s), transaction data held in the US 'mirror site' may be disclosed to US, or other authorities for the purposes of combating terrorism and other serious crime. Therefore, any information you provide to AIB in order to effect a SWIFT payment could potentially be disclosed to US authorities, and by instructing AIB to execute a payment, you are implicitly giving your consent to such a disclosure.
 

AIB reserves the right to amend this notice at any time, and you should regularly check for any amendments.

For any queries relating to International Payments on AIB Internet Banking, please contact 0818 724 724 or if calling from outside the Republic of Ireland, please contact + 353 1 771 2424

AIB provides a comprehensive suite of International Payment products to facilitate customers in sending and receiving international payments. For further detailed information please click here