Within SEPA, there are two European schemes for processing euro payments

• Credit transfers. 
• Direct debits.

Within SEPA, based on these payment instruments, a single bank account can be used to carry out domestic and cross border operations between participating countries.

This means that any citizen, company or institution, resident in the EU or in other SEPA countries, can make or receive euro payments through these instruments with the same ease and costs as in their own country.

With a single account with novobanco, any customer can make SEPA credit transfers in euros within the SEPA area, regardless of the destination country, improving efficiency in day to day financial management.

The distinction between domestic and European transfers is removed, and there is now a single service with the following features

• Wider European reach, available to any customer holding an account with a bank participating in this scheme, currently more than 4,500 European banks. With SEPA, you can receive your salary into your novobanco account even if you work abroad in a SEPA country. If you receive your salary at novobanco through SEPA, the paying entity must ensure that the transfer classification matches the type of payment being processed, for example salary, and this also applies to pensions. This is relevant, especially if having this type of transfer paid in gives you a commercial benefit at novobanco that you have explicitly agreed.

• For bank account identification, IBAN and BIC are required. NIB is no longer used to identify origin and destination accounts. In Portugal, IBAN is easy to obtain, as it is the NIB preceded by “PT50”. IBAN has 25 digits and is PT50 plus NIB. If you are already a novobanco customer, you can find your IBAN in the header of your statement or via NBNET, in Daily banking. Accounts. NIB. IBAN. SWIFT.

• You can add a payment reference for the beneficiary, simple or structured, with a maximum length of 140 characters.

This is a collection or debit transfer in euros initiated by the beneficiary, the collector, through their bank, under a prior agreement between beneficiary and payer, the debtor. SEPA direct debits work in a very similar way to the existing domestic direct debit system.

You can reference your novobanco account to pay direct debits from any national or foreign supplier that sends collections through a bank participating in SEPA. These direct debits will be processed in the same way by participating banks, Portuguese or European.

Direct debits can be used for • Recurring collections, for example monthly bills for certain services. 
• One off collection, for a single payment.

In both cases, the debtor must previously provide the relevant Direct Debit Authorization, also called a mandate, to the supplier or collecting entity.

With direct debits

• IBAN and BIC must also be used as bank account identifiers. 
• Both the Debtor Bank and the Creditor Bank must participate in the direct debit scheme, regardless of the country where they are located. 
• For mandates and direct debit authorizations, the debtor can no longer create a mandate via ATM, online banking, and similar. Creation and activation become the exclusive responsibility of the creditor. The debtor can only maintain certain characteristics of the mandate with the bank, such as maximum amounts, expiry date, deactivation and frequency.