All commercial banks in Bahrain today (January 31) adopted International Bank Account Numbers (IBAN) on their cheque books, which makes the kingdom the 55th country to join this system.

The system, which combines a country code with a check digit code and the customers existing account number, will speed up transactions and go a long way to eliminate much of the need for physical checking.

'This system speeds up pass through rates between banks that use IBAN and make them as swift as sending an e-mail,' said Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) executive director Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa.

'It does not involve customers changing their account number but it means that they have some new identification numbers added to the front of existing account numbers.'

Bahrain is the fourth GCC country to adopt IBAN following Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait.

The system means that financial transaction of sending money or receiving money will be practically instantaneous between IBAN countries.

The CBB has been working with local commercial banks to establish the system for more than 20 months.

Standard Chartered chief information officer Bahrain Stephan Corera said that in the past there was a danger that in a transfer from one bank to another there could be a problem that two people in different banks or different countries could have same code.

IBAN meant this would not happen because every number would include a country code and a check digit. – TradeArabia News Service