He Supreme Court Ha exempt from any liability towards the bank in cases where, during a transfer, the IBAN (International Bank Account Number) or the international code which uniquely identifies a bank account does not match the rest of the data due to customer error. In a November 27 judgment to which EFE had access, the civil court upheld Caixa Popular’s appeal against a July 2021 judgment of the Valencia Provincial Court.
In the first place A court ruled in favor of the financial institution, then the Provincial Court ruled in favor of the client.decision which the rural savings bank appealed to the Supreme Court.
The customer demanded a little more than 15,800 euros for a transfer with incorrect data, and requested that the financial institution be declared responsible for the improper execution of the payment order, which correctly identified the name of the beneficiary and the concept but entered the IBAN with errors.
He The Supreme Court took into account the arguments of Caixa Popular, and rejects that the legislation on payment services and the European regulation on the liability regime to which payment service providers are subject “for the execution of payment orders in accordance with the unique identifier” have been violated.
Nevertheless, Since October 9, a regulation has been in force which requires banks to verify that the name of the beneficiary matches the IBAN before making instant transfers in euros, in accordance with a European regulation approved in 2024.
Cancel fraud
“The payer’s payment service provider will offer a payment service beneficiary verification guarantee, to confirm whether the beneficiary name matches the IBAN holder before executing the transfer,” the rule states.
The law firm Navas & Cusí estimates the impact of “phishing“(cyberattacks in the form of identity theft) for Spanish entities in 2025.
The rule so far in force, underlines the managing partner of Navas & Cusí Juan Ignacio Navas, has suggested that the bank “had to collaborate to undo the fraudbut there was no obligation to check whether the IBAN belonged to the indicated owner”, and this is what has changed since October 9.
About The Author
