Recital 11

(11)It is also important to provide for improvements to facilitate the execution of cross-border payments by payment institutions. In this respect, standardisation should be promoted as regards, in particular, the use of the International Bank Account Number (IBAN)(6) and the Bank Identifier Code (BIC)(7) necessary for automated processing of cross-border credit transfers. The widest use of these codes is considered to be essential. In addition, other measures which entail extra costs should be removed in order to lower the charges to customers for cross-border payments.