National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the leading bank in Kuwait and the highest rated in the Middle East, has urged its customers to get their IBAN (international bank account number) via any of the bank's various delivery channels.

Kuwait will become an IBAN compliant country on January 1, 2011.

“It is strongly recommended to include IBANs as part of the payment instructions applicable to all incoming and outgoing (to IBAN compliant countries) payments,” said Abdulla Abu Al Hous, deputy general manager - operations group.

“This applies to all retail as well as corporate customers and will assist to speed up the processing of payments. Hence, we urge our customers to obtain their IBANs through any of the bank's multiple delivery channels, including nbk.com Watani Online (WOL), Watani Online Corporate (WOLC), Hala Watani or by visiting the nearest NBK branch.”

“Regional customers can also visit their local NBK branches to get more details regarding IBANs for Kuwait.  NBK customers can obtain their IBANs on nbk.com by inputting their 10-digit account number in the field provided,” he added.

“Customers should update both local and international beneficiary details. IBAN details will also be required when establishing new standing orders from January 1, 2011 onwards,” Abu Al Hous said.

Abu Al Hous added that under the new system, no outgoing payments will be made to IBAN compliant countries such as Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, Turkey and other EU countries amongst others, as these payments will be immediately rejected by NBK if the payment instruction does not contain an IBAN.

This will eliminate these payments being rejected by the beneficiary bank resulting in delays for the customer.

“Including IBAN details in payment instructions will be an industry-wide requirement and will not only apply to NBK,” Abu Al Hous concluded. – TradeArabia News Service