What is the Italian bank equivalent of a sort code?

08/23/2012 - 14:19

Trying to set myself up with XE currency exchange. At the moment it all seems too difficult to understand and I will probably just continue with the usual - take the dosh out at the Post Office in the UK and stick in the bank in Italy when I get there. However in the interest of adding to my fund of arcane knowledge - anyone know the answer to the above question? And where would I find it (bank statement??)

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They prefer to use IBAN here. Have a good look at HiFX too as I have nothing but good things to say about them - the cash is normally deposited same/next day & we've never had fees charged at the Italian end. Best value is transferring in bulk (£5000 or more) but you only take a small hit on the exchange rate if you transfer smaller amounts. Well worth experimenting on their site with different amounts. I had written down the various loadings on the rates but can't find them at the mo.

We use Torfx , pretty good too - hard to believe you actually bring cash over !! Transferring dosh on line is a piece of piss (as we say in Scotland). Give it a try. Ciao Billy

Hi!

Thank you for saying that!

I am also using TorFx for small amounts of money.

It's easy and direct.

Anyway, their customer care is great too! They pick up your call in a quick, reasonable time, with excellent support.

Currencies Direct...x fer £5,000 at a time...works very well for us Anne.Using IBAN.

You should be able to find this on your bank statement. It will be under a description Coordinate Bancarie Internazionale, and should resemble a code like this: (IBAN) IT 11 UO70 7538 3500 0000 00 xx xxx. You'll also probably find the Identificativo Bancario Europeo (translates as Swift code) which should start with BIC. My BIC (Banca di Credito Cooperativo) starts ICRAIxxxxxx. Usually UK banks also want the postal address of the Italian branch - gawd knows why!

thanks all, XE says in order to use EFT (whatever that is) I have to include "branch code" which they further decribe as ( amongst other things) a sort code. Already given my IBAN. for someone who doesn'tknow her BACS from her CHAPS I'm not sure it's worth the effort. For a tenner I can transfer direct from my UK bank to Italian bank - either online or with a 5 minute walk down the road. Exchange rate probably not thebest, but I'm never moving large amounts around and as a satisficier NOT a maximiser I'm happy to pay for lack of hassle! :-)

Hi Annec The italian IBAN number is made up of a combination of 27 letters and numbers. The ABI should be the 6th - 10th characters and the CAB should be the 11th - 15th characters. The last 12 characters should be your account number. Looking at my english IBAN number the sort code is the group of numbers immediately preceeding the account number, so I would have thought that the five digits preceeding your account number should be the equivalent. All IBAN numbers follow a similar format, just some countries are longer and contain some letters in place of the numbers depending on how each bank is identified. As you have already given them your IBAN number I would have thought that they should have all the information that they need anyway. Have they said how many digits they need? Just in case you are still wondering, EFT stands for electronic funds transfer. Hope this helps Toni

If you still need sort code rather than IBAN / SWIFT etc, then: ABI is a 5-digit code which tells you which bank you are with; (eg Monti di Paschi di Siena / Banca Intesa etc) CAB is another 5-digit code which indicates the individual branch (la succursale) of the bank where your account is. Finally - conto is account,(number) and don't forget to be precise when providing details of the name on the account. Remember in Italy they tend to write out all your names in full - whereas UK banks often prefer initials.

We used HiFX too very good even used a credit card 4pm in account the next morning.

Just to say we use Moneycorp with ease. Contact them by phone, they give you a bank account in GB in which to put your GB cash. The I transfer electronically from my UK bank account to their GB account, and they transfer to my Italian account. Did this a couple of weeks ago - left my account UK bank on Thursday around noon, arrived in Italy by before noon on Friday. One hone call and a few taps on the keyboard and its all done.

.. if you have an Italian bank a/c , €3 to deal regardless of amount... and rates are better than any FX company. Once you are used to their poor app, it's simple...

Thanks steve. i've set up a currencyfair account and will give it a test run tomorrow.

Looks interesting,the old peer to peer idea.

...money arrived at Italian bank within 24 hours. I used their "priority" service (8 Euros instead of 3) to avoid panicking for 3 days about whether it would work. Couldn't have been much easier and I'm now a convert! Thanks again Steve

... hope you got a good rate... By the way it nearly always takes just a day with the €3 standard since faster payments came in, but this may not be used if above a certain amount (don't know CF limit). Beware some banks in Italy charge a lot for money coming in, Poste seems to be nothing if the amount is below 2000... :)