Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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319. To ask the Minister for Finance his views on the issues raised by a person (details supplied) in County Cork regarding the security of electronic transfers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31014/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The European Communities Payment Services Directive (PSD) which was transposed into Irish legislation on 1 November 2009, ensures that the same legal framework applies to all payments made within Europe whereby businesses and consumers can make payments securely, cost effectively and efficiently. The PSD establishes the necessary legal framework for Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payments and also applies to existing national payment products.

Under SEPA, the Bank Identifier Code (BIC) and the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) are the primary bank account identifiers. The BIC is a unique identification code for a specific financial institution (country and bank name) and the IBAN is a standardised European bank account numbering system which uniquely identifies a customer's bank account. The IBAN is the sole payment account identifier for electronic national, international and cross border credit transfers and direct debits within the Euro area. When making a payment e.g. from Australia to a country in the SEPA area such as Ireland, the originator provides both the BIC and IBAN of the recipient in order for the transfer to be processed through the international system.

In the absence of further information, it appears the example of the payment given in this correspondence was credited correctly to the account indicated by the payer and that the issue of criminal activity did not arise.  Banks have a responsibility to adhere to various checks in order to deter criminal activity such as terrorist financing or money laundering.

I have been informed by the Central Bank that there is nothing to prevent an account holder giving an instruction to a payment services provider concerning the receipt of credits to an account but such a request would be a contractual matter and would be considered by the payment services provider in the context of the terms and conditions applying to an account.