OREANDA-NEWS. This is to inform that on 1 November 2009, Directive 2007/67/EC of the European Parliament and the Council comes into force, reported the press-centre of Rietumu Bank.

The Directive is a significant milestone in creation of the unified legislative system for wire transfers in the European Economic Area (EEA)*.

Introduction of this document will improve effectiveness and quality of transfer execution under uniform conditions throughout Europe, as well as will lower costs to customers.

In line with the document’s requirements, starting from 1 November 2009, Rietumu Bank will execute outgoing transfers in EUR and other currencies from the member countries** within the EEA charging SHA-type fees only.

According to Directive 2007/67/EC, the entire amount of a customer’s payment will be transferred to a recipient’s account. Correspondent banks involved in the transfer will not be entitled to withhold any fees from the payment’s amount.

In case the customer specified other type of fees (OUR or BEN) in his payment order, Rietumu Bank or a correspondent bank is entitled to change the type of payment fee to SHA.

The bank will execute payments from the member countries in EUR and other currencies outside the EEA charging OUR and SHA-type fees.

According to the Directive, from 1 November, incoming payments in EUR and other currencies of the EEA have to be transferred to a customer’s account on the day funds are transferred to a correspondent account of a recipient bank.

* Member countries of the European Economic Area: Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and 27 EU countries – Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Greece, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, United Kingdom, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, Spain, Hungary, Germany, Sweden.

** Currencies of the European Economic Area: EUR, GBP, DKK, NOK, SEK, PLZ, CZK, LTL, EEK, LVL.