SEPA Plus Technical Specifications For File Version 3 These technical specifications describe version 3 of the SEPAROUTING file included in the SEPA Plus product. Financial institutions use this file to find the available SEPA payment channels for a beneficiary bank. The document includes file formats, file names, field definitions, SEPA payment channels, and information about cross-referencing to other files. This document is intended for anyone who installs and administers the SEPA Plusfiles. 23 September 2016 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications Table of Contents Table of Contents Preface......................................................................................................................................................3 1 2 About SEPA Plus........................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Purpose of SEPA Plus...................................................................................................................5 1.2 Packaging and Data Sources........................................................................................................ 5 About the SEPA Plus Files............................................................................................................ 6 2.1 Future File Changes...................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 SEPA Plus File Formats................................................................................................................ 6 2.3 Daily and Monthly File Distribution................................................................................................ 7 2.4 SEPA Plus File Naming Convention.............................................................................................. 8 2.5 SEPA Plus File Names................................................................................................................ 10 2.6 SEPA Plus Previous Version Files............................................................................................... 12 2.7 Downloading and Importing SWIFTRef Files.............................................................................. 13 2.8 SWIFTRef Release Letter and Support.......................................................................................14 3 SEPAROUTING File Field Definitions.........................................................................................16 A X Character Set............................................................................................................................ 19 A.1 B Fields and Flags for SWIFTRef Files..........................................................................................20 B.1 C E MODIFICATION FLAG Field in SWIFTRef Files......................................................................... 20 Payment Channel List................................................................................................................. 22 C.1 D Allowed Characters..................................................................................................................... 19 Payment Channels in SEPA........................................................................................................ 22 Cross-Referencing to Other Files...............................................................................................24 D.1 Overview of the SEPAROUTING File Cross-Referencing .......................................................... 24 D.2 IBAN BIC Field and ROUTING BIC Field.................................................................................... 24 D.3 COUNTRY CODE Field...............................................................................................................25 Publication Date and Validity Date for SWIFTRef Files............................................................ 26 E.1 Applicable Dates for SEPA Plus Data..........................................................................................26 Legal Notices......................................................................................................................................... 27 23 September 2016 2 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications Preface Preface Purpose of the document These technical specifications describe version 3 of the SEPAROUTING file included in the SEPA Plus product. Financial institutions use this file to find the available SEPA payment channels for a beneficiary bank. The document includes file formats, file names, field definitions, SEPA payment channels, and information about cross-referencing to other files. For information about the technical specifications of the other files included in the SEPA Plus product, see the IBAN Plus Technical Specifications. Audience This document is intended for anyone who installs and administers the SEPA Plus files. Terminology This document uses the following terminology: Term Definition ACH Automated Clearing House CSM Clearing and Settlement Mechanism EPC European Payments Council Significant changes The following tables list all significant changes to the content of the SEPA Plus Technical Specifications since the following previous editions. These tables do not include editorial changes that SWIFT makes to improve the usability and comprehension of the document. New information since June 2016 edition Location Availability of IBANSTRUCTURE_DELTA and IBANSTRUCTURE_DAILY_DELTA files Monthly File Names on page 10 Daily File Names on page 11 New and updated information since April 2016 edition Location SHA256 checksum file is included in all SWIFTRef directories as of 25 June 2016. Monthly File Names on page 10 New entry for Croatia (FINA) and updated descriptions for SCTI and SIAS 23 September 2016 Daily File Names on page 11 Payment Channels in SEPA on page 22 3 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications Preface New information since 26 February 2016 edition Location A new file called EULA.txt is now included in the SEPA Plus files. This txt file provides information about SWIFTRef Terms and Conditions. SEPA Plus File Names on page 10 Updated information since September 2015 edition Location The following payments channels are now members of the European Clearing Cooperative (ECC): Payment Channels in SEPA on page 22 • DIAS Greece • EQUENS (Interpay Netherlands & TAI Germany) • Iberpay (SNCE) Spain • KIR Poland • ICBPI-ICCREA Italy • TRANSFOND Romania (new payment channel) Deleted information since December 2014 edition As described in the SWIFTRef Release Letter, Note ID 150901, as of 1 September 2015, SWIFTRef no longer provides exceptional correction files to the monthly cycle subscribers for the EXCLUSIONLIST file, the IBANPLUS file, and the SEPAROUTING file. The exceptional correction files are not adequate in supporting the high data quality levels required for SEPA payment processing. SWIFT encourages these customers to upgrade their subscriptions to the daily updates. Information about the exceptional correction files has been removed from this document. Related documentation • Directories over FileAct Implementation Guidelines • Frequently Asked Questions for SWIFTRef Users • IBAN Plus Frequently Asked Questions • IBAN Plus Technical Specifications • Publication Schedule and Distribution Information • SEPA Plus Frequently Asked Questions • SWIFTRef Release Letter (sent by e-mail to all SWIFTRef data file subscribers, including SEPA Plus subscribers) 23 September 2016 4 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications 1 About SEPA Plus 1.1 Purpose of SEPA Plus About SEPA Plus The SEPAROUTING file contains data that financial institutions need to send SEPA payments to the correct SEPA-ready destination using SEPA-ready channels. Financial institutions use the data in the SEPAROUTING file to: • look up a financial institution's available SEPA channels (ACHs or CSMs) and their intermediaries if they are indirect participants • look up a financial institution's adherence to the SEPA schemes • select the most convenient channel for the payment The SEPAROUTING file contains bank membership of SEPA-compliant Clearing and Settlement Mechanism (CSM), the banks' reachability through the CSMs, their intermediary institutions, and their EPC adherence to the SEPA schemes. The SEPAROUTING file can be used in combination with the IBANPLUS file. Related information SEPA Plus Frequently Asked Questions 1.2 Packaging and Data Sources Packaging The SEPA Plus product contains the files that are part of the IBAN Plus product and the SEPAROUTING file. For more information, see the IBAN Plus Technical Specifications. This document describes the SEPAROUTING file. The SEPAROUTING file is also available as part of the Payment Plus product package. Data sources The data is obtained from, cross-referenced with, and validated against the following sources: • ISO 9362 BIC Directory • Financial institutions operationally ready for SEPA, collected through secure online screens • SEPA Clearing and Settlement Mechanisms 23 September 2016 5 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications 2 About the SEPA Plus Files 2.1 Future File Changes About the SEPA Plus Files The structure of the SEPA Plus data files can exceptionally evolve with time, for example because new data must be added in the form of new columns to support a new regulation. SWIFT limits the number of changes. If SWIFT changes the structure of a file, then it continues to provide the previous file for 18 months following the release of a new version. A version number identifies the files and the relevant technical specifications. 2.2 SEPA Plus File Formats UTF-8 format The files are encoded in the UTF-8 format. The files use characters that belong to the SWIFT X character set (see X Character Set on page 19). TXT files The text files are structured as follows: • Line separator: CR/LF • Field separator: Tab character • File extension: .txt XML files The root node of the XML is <dataexport> which contains three mandatory attributes: • product the name of the product and the row node • fileteype whether it is a full file or a delta file • filedate date of the file in the format YYYYMMDD For example, <dataexport product="bankdirectoryplus_v3" filetype="full" filedate="20160325">. Inside the root node, rows are enclosed in the product node, for example, <bankdirectoryplus_v3>. Each product node contains one TAG for each available column. Empty TAGs are not included. The following rules apply to the TAG names: • underscore ("_") replaces blanks (" ") • uppercase characters are converted lowercase For example, "ISO COUNTRY CODE" becomes <iso_country_code>. 23 September 2016 6 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications About the SEPA Plus Files An XSD (XML Schema Definition) included as a separate xsd file, formally describes the elements in the XML document. Use this file to verify that each item in the content adheres to its description. Related information SEPA Plus Schemas on User Handbook on www.swift.com 2.3 Daily and Monthly File Distribution Overview SWIFTRef products consist of a set of files that are compressed in a zip package. A subset of the files is separately available as the IBAN Plus product. Users can receive the files on a daily or a monthly basis. The distribution mechanisms are identical. You can find more information about the daily download service on www.swift.com/ swiftref > About SWIFTRef > Distribution channels. An additional subscription, access, and fee for the daily files apply. The daily and the monthly cycle files are not interchangeable. Users must select and continue to use the same update frequency. Switching from one frequency to the other can only be done exceptionally by loading the full file of the new frequency. Differences in RECORD KEYs in daily and monthly files For more information about the differences in RECORD KEYS in daily and monthly files, see the Publication Schedule and Distribution Information. Daily cycle files To keep data consistent, all daily files must be applied in the correct order (by date in the file name), although not necessarily one per day. The daily files allow users to accumulate any number of daily updates and to apply them one by one, in the correct order, in one batch process. For example, if you want to apply the daily files on a weekly basis, then on 15 June you apply the files of 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 June in this order. Alternatively, if you prefer to keep your monthly update process, then you can apply 30 or 31 daily updates at the end of each month in one go. The benefit of this, in comparison to applying one monthly delta file, is that if there is an urgent data fix made throughout the month, you already have the related update in one of the daily deltas. You only need to apply all outstanding daily deltas immediately to have the data fixed. Subscribers to the monthly updates do not have such fixes available on time. 23 September 2016 7 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications About the SEPA Plus Files Type of file Description Frequency Availability Daily full file The daily full file is only required for an optional data resynchronisation. Published once a month At 02:00 GMT on the Saturday following the Friday monthly publication day The daily full file is published as a separate file along with the daily delta.(1) Daily delta file This file contains only the changes Published every day, of the previous day. For example, including the weekends on 4 November 2015 at 02:00 GMT, SWIFTRef provides the daily files with file date 20151103. To download this file, select 03 Nov 2015 in the Date Selector. Every day at 02:00 GMT For more information, see Frequently Asked Questions for SWIFTRef Users. (1) For files distributed over FileAct, the daily full files will be available as separate files in Q3 2016. The daily files contain updates for immediate use and not for future use. Monthly cycle files Type of file Description Frequency Availability Monthly full file One delta file and one full file, published on the same day. Published once a month At 02:00 GMT on the monthly publication day (a Friday) Monthly delta file Users can apply the delta files only, the full files only, or a mix of the two (but not in the same month). Related information SEPA Plus File Naming Convention on page 8 SEPA Plus File Names on page 10 Publication Schedule and Distribution Information 2.4 SEPA Plus File Naming Convention 2.4.1 Monthly Update File Naming Convention This section describes the file naming convention for SWIFTRef monthly files. 23 September 2016 8 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications About the SEPA Plus Files <directory_filename>_<version>_<filetype>_<date>.<format> Variable Description <directory_filename> The name of the directory file <version> The version of the file <filetype> • FULL The file is published once a month and contains all data, whether the data has changed or not. It is compatible with the DELTA files and serves the purpose of resynchronising your database with SWIFT's database. • DELTA The file is published once a month and only contains the data modified, added, or deleted relative to the previous month. <date> YYYYMMDD format The publication date and the activation date of the file <format> .txt or .xml (see SEPA Plus File Formats on page 6) Related information Monthly File Names on page 10 2.4.2 Daily Update File Naming Convention This section describes the file naming convention for SWIFTRef daily files. <directory_filename>_<version>_<filetype>_<date>.<format> Variable Description <directory_filename> The name of the directory file <version> The version of the file <filetype> • DAILY_FULL This file is published once a month and contains all data, whether the data has changed or not. It is compatible with the DAILY_DELTA files and serves the purpose of resynchronising your data base with SWIFT's database. It is different from, and not compatible with the monthly cycle FULL and DELTA files. • DAILY_DELTA This file is published once a day and contains the changes of the day specified in the file name. It also includes any emergency changes, therefore correction files are not needed. It is published each single day, including the week-ends. It may be empty if no change occurred. 23 September 2016 9 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications About the SEPA Plus Files Variable Description <date> YYYYMMDD format The publication date and the activation date of the file The daily files contain updates for immediate use and not for future use. <format> .txt or .xml (see SEPA Plus File Formats on page 6) Note The IBANSTRUCTURE file does not follow the naming convention described previously. For backward-compatibility, the daily full file name is IBANSTRUCTURE_FULL and not IBANSTRUCTURE_DAILY_FULL. The file is published once a month together with the other DAILY_FULL files. Related information Daily File Names on page 11 2.5 SEPA Plus File Names 2.5.1 Monthly File Names This section lists the monthly file names for SEPA Plus. .txt files .xml files SEPAROUTING_V3_FULL_YYYYMMDD.txt SEPAROUTING_V3_FULL_YYYYMMDD.xml SEPAROUTING_V3_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.txt SEPAROUTING_V3_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.xml IBANPLUS_V3_FULL_YYYYMMDD.txt IBANPLUS_V3_FULL_YYYYMMDD.xml IBANPLUS_V3_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.txt IBANPLUS_V3_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.xml EXCLUSIONLIST_V1_FULL_YYYYMMDD.txt EXCLUSIONLIST_V1_FULL_YYYYMMDD.xml EXCLUSIONLIST_V1_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.txt EXCLUSIONLIST_V1_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.xml IBANSTRUCTURE_FULL_YYYYMMDD.txt IBANSTRUCTURE_FULL_YYYYMMDD.xml IBANSTRUCTURE_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.txt IBANSTRUCTURE_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.xml EULA.txt EULA.txt sha256sum.txt sha256sum.txt md5sum.txt md5sum.txt These files are downloadable in the following archive files: 23 September 2016 10 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications About the SEPA Plus Files .txt files .xml files SEPAPLUS_YYYYMMDD_TXT.zip SEPAPLUS_YYYYMMDD_XML.zip PAYMENTPLUS_YYYYMMDD_TXT.zip PAYMENTPLUS_YYYYMMDD_XML.zip • EULA.txt This file is included in all downloadable file packages. This file provides information about SWIFTRef Terms and Conditions. For more information, see the SWIFTRef Services Licence Agreement. For files received through the Directories Over FileAct service, the EULA.txt will be included in September 2016. • sha256sum.txt The Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) validates the integrity of SWIFTRef files. The SHA256 algorithm generates an almost-unique, fixed size 256-bit (32-byte) hash. The SHA256 checksum replaces the md5sum, which will be removed at the end of December 2017. For files received through the Directories Over FileAct service, sha256sum.txt will be added at the end of October 2016. • md5sum.txt This file contains the digest of the files for integrity verification. 2.5.2 Daily File Names This section lists the daily file names for SEPA Plus. The daily files contain updates for immediate use and not for future use. The DAILY_FULL file and the IBANSTRUCTURE_FULL file are provided as separate files once a month, one day after the monthly publication date. For files received through the Directories Over FileAct service, the daily full files will be available as separate files in October 2016. .txt files .xml files SEPAROUTING_V3_DAILY_FULL_YYYYMMDD.txt SEPAROUTING_V3_DAILY_FULL_YYYYMMDD.xml SEPAROUTING_V3_DAILY_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.txt SEPAROUTING_V3_DAILY_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.xml IBANPLUS_V3_DAILY_FULL_YYYYMMDD.txt IBANPLUS_V3_DAILY_FULL_YYYYMMDD.xml IBANPLUS_V3_DAILY_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.txt IBANPLUS_V3_DAILY_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.xml EXCLUSIONLIST_V1_DAILY_FULL_YYYYMMDD.txt EXCLUSIONLIST_V1_DAILY_FULL_YYYYMMDD.xml EXCLUSIONLIST_V1_DAILY_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.txt EXCLUSIONLIST_V1_DAILY_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.xml IBANSTRUCTURE_FULL_YYYYMMDD.txt(1) IBANSTRUCTURE_FULL_YYYYMMDD.xml(1) 23 September 2016 11 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications About the SEPA Plus Files .txt files .xml files IBANSTRUCTURE_DAILY_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.txt IBANSTRUCTURE_DAILY_DELTA_YYYYMMDD.xml EULA.txt EULA.txt sha256sum.txt sha256sum.txt md5sum.txt md5sum.txt These files are downloadable in the following archive files: SEPAPLUS_DAILY_YYYYMMDD_TXT.zip SEPAPLUS_DAILY_YYYYMMDD_XML.zip PAYMENTPLUS_DAILY_YYYYMMDD_TXT.zip PAYMENTPLUS_DAILY_YYYYMMDD_XML.zip (1) • The IBANSTRUCTURE_FULL file name remains unchanged. It will not be renamed "IBANSTRUCTURE_DAILY_FULL". EULA.txt This file is included in all downloadable file packages. This file provides information about SWIFTRef Terms and Conditions. For more information, see the SWIFTRef Services Licence Agreement. For files received through the Directories Over FileAct service, the EULA.txt will be included in September 2016. • sha256sum.txt The Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) validates the integrity of SWIFTRef files. The SHA256 algorithm generates an almost-unique, fixed size 256-bit (32-byte) hash. The SHA256 checksum replaces the md5sum, which will be removed at the end of December 2017. For files received through the Directories Over FileAct service, sha256sum.txt will be added at the end of October 2016. • md5sum.txt This file contains the digest of the files for integrity verification. 2.6 SEPA Plus Previous Version Files Currently there are no previous versions files distributed. 23 September 2016 12 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications 2.7 About the SEPA Plus Files Downloading and Importing SWIFTRef Files Downloading files File download option More information How to order Manual download from www.swiftrefdata.com by authorised users Frequently Asked Questions - For SWIFTRef Users 1. Go to the ordering pages on www.swift.com. 2. Click Place orders , then select the desired product. Complete the order form (login to swift.com required). 3. Under Files products types, select the product from the drop-down list. Under Distribution options, select Manual download from the drop-down list. 1. Go to the ordering pages on www.swift.com. 2. Click Place orders , then select the desired product. Complete the order form (login to swift.com required). 3. Under Files products types, select the product from the drop-down list. Under Distribution options, select Download automation from the drop-down list. 1. Go to the ordering pages on www.swift.com. 2. Click Place orders , then select Subscribe (Test) or Subscribe (Live) . 3. Complete the subscription/change form as appropriate (login to swift.com required). Automated Download Service Directories Over FileAct SWIFTRef Automated Download Service Technical Specifications Directories Over FileAct Implementation Guidelines Principles for importing data into a target database There are two ways to import data: Situation Solution File and destination table are both UTF-8 Directly import the file without changing parameters File is UTF-8 and destination table is not UTF-8 Specify during the import that the encoding of the file is UTF8. That way the system knows that the characters must be read in UTF-8. If you do not specify the encoding of the file, then the system will try to import the file using the destination table encoding. The characters will be read in the wrong way and will be replaced by incorrect characters. 23 September 2016 13 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications About the SEPA Plus Files Importing files The files can be imported into: • Your target application and databases. The TXT files must be translated into the EBCDIC format for import into IBM systems. • Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access - for desktop consultation. Format the Excel sheet as text before importing the file to preserve leading zeros (“0”). To import into Microsoft Excel, do the following: 1. Select the entire sheet. 2. Format it as text. 3. Import the data with: Data > From text. 4. Select TAB-delimited Unicode (UTF-8) format for all columns. 2.8 SWIFTRef Release Letter and Support Release Letter For the users of the SWIFTRef files, SWIFT publishes the monthly SWIFTRef Release Letter that describes all significant additions, changes, and corrections to the SWIFTRef files. The SWIFTRef Release Letter is e-mailed automatically to all users with a subscription to file download. The SWIFTRef Release Letter is published approximately one week before the file publication date. Support SWIFT Customer Support provides documentation and the Knowledge Base to help customers find information. If you do not find the information that you are looking for, then contact Support: • You are registered for SWIFT Support Create a support case: Log in to the Case Manager on www.swift.com. • You are not registered for SWIFT Support If you have a BIC, then log in to www.swift.com. Under Profiles, click Request Accesses > Support applications. If you do not have a BIC or you do not know your BIC, then contact the SWIFTRef administrator of your institution. Type of support Contact information SWIFTRef data content and operational issues: Log in to Ordering & Support on swift.com. • data issues • directory publication issues • directory file queries • website application errors • identity and access management 23 September 2016 • Documentation (User Handbook) • How-to videos • Knowledge base • Case Manager 14 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications About the SEPA Plus Files Type of support Contact information SWIFTRef sales enquiries Send an e-mail to swiftref@swift.com Customers can find more information about Reference Data products on www.swift.com/swiftref. 23 September 2016 15 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications 3 SEPAROUTING File Field Definitions SEPAROUTING File Field Definitions Overview The SEPAROUTING file contains SEPA reachability channels for the financial institutions in SEPA countries and a financial institution's adherence to the SEPA schemes. The structure and content of the SEPAROUTING file is explained in this document. For more information about the IBANPLUS and the IBANSTRUCTURE files, see the IBAN Plus Technical Specifications. Field definitions The following table contains the definitions of the fields (columns) in the SEPAROUTING (V3) file - both the full and the delta file. Field name Data type Max length Always present Description MODIFICATION FLAG Alpha 1 Yes Modification flag of type ADM, in DELTA files: • A (addition) • M (modification) • D (deletion) In FULL files: • A (addition) For more information, see Fields and Flags for SWIFTRef Files on page 20. RECORD KEY Alphanumeric 12 Yes The unique key of the record in the file BIC Alphanumeric 11 Yes The BIC of the beneficiary financial institution (1) INSTITUTION NAME Any type 105 Yes Institution name of the beneficiary BIC CITY Any type 35 No City name of the beneficiary BIC ISO COUNTRY CODE Alpha 2 Yes The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code of the country of the Beneficiary BIC (see CCH file) 23 September 2016 16 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications SEPAROUTING File Field Definitions Field name Data type Max length Always present Description SCHEME Alpha 8 Yes The SEPA scheme for which the bank or branch in field BIC can be reached through the payments channel is one of the following: ADHERENCE BIC Alphanumeric 11 No • SCT • SDD B2B • SDD CORE • SDD COR1 The BIC that (according to the financial institution that provided routing data to SWIFT) appears in the EPC Adherence Register. If the BIC used in a SEPA payment is not present in this file, then the institution did not register as adherent to the SEPA scheme with the EPC. For more information, see the SEPA Plus Frequently Asked Questions. ADHERENCE START DATE Date ADHERENCE STOP DATE Date PAYMENT CHANNEL ID Alphanumeric 8 No The date from which, according to the EPC Adherence Register, the institution will be ready for operating the scheme. 8 No The date after which, according to the EPC Adherence Register, the institution will cease scheme operations. 11 Yes Identification of the clearing channel through which the beneficiary institution can receive SEPA payment instructions according to the scheme. YYYYMMDD YYYYMMDD For a complete list of structured clearing and settlement service codes, see Payment Channel List on page 22. PREFERRED CHANNEL FLAG Alpha 1 No This flag indicates if the payment channel is the preferred payment channel of the beneficiary institution for receiving payment: P if preferred 23 September 2016 17 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications SEPAROUTING File Field Definitions Field name Data type Max length Always present Description REACHABILITY Alpha 1 No This field indicates the beneficiary institution's direct or indirect reachability through the payment channel: • D if direct • I if indirect If "I" (Indirect), then the field "INTERMEDIARY INSTITUTION BIC" identifies the institution that will route the payment. INTERMEDIARY INSTITUTION BIC Alphanumeric 11 No If available, the BIC of the intermediary institution in case the REACHABILITY of the institution or its branch is "I" (Indirect). If an 8-character BIC is issued, then it is padded with " XXX". START DATE Date 8 No The date from which the institution becomes reachable through this payment channel 8 No The date after which the institution is no longer reachable through this payment channel YYYYMMDD STOP DATE Date YYYYMMDD AOS Alpha 4 No Indicates membership of a SEPA Additional Optional Service. FIELD A Alphanumeric 35 No The future "valid from" date of the record. Contains date in format YYYYMMDD. The field is empty in case the record is valid at the date specified in the file name (that is, the publication date). FIELD B Alphanumeric 70 No This field is reserved for future use. In case values will be populated, the file structure and the field name will not change. (1) In theory, the CSMs should include all reachable BICs in their reachability tables, including the branch identifiers (BICs with length 11). Because this leads to a very large number of BICs, in many cases the CSMs only publish the main BICs (8-character BICS or 11-character BICs that end with "XXX"). If you cannot find an 11-character BIC in the SEPAROUTING file, then truncate the BIC to length 8, append "XXX", and re-do the look-up. 23 September 2016 18 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications X Character Set A X Character Set A.1 Allowed Characters The files contain characters from the X character set. The character set allows using parts of the data in the files, such as institution names and addresses, in SWIFT messages. Type Allowed characters Alphabetical characters A to Z (upper case) a to z (lower case) Numeric characters 0 to 9 Special characters / - ? : ( ) . ,' + CrLf SPACE Transliteration of special characters that do not fit within the X character set: @ (AT) "(double quote) ' (single quote) Important 23 September 2016 The previous versions of the SEPA Plus file and the other files included in the package used the SWIFT Z character set. The character set is now restricted to the X character set. The characters that do not appear anymore in the files are: = ! " % _ & * < > ; { @ #. 19 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications Fields and Flags for SWIFTRef Files B Fields and Flags for SWIFTRef Files B.1 MODIFICATION FLAG Field in SWIFTRef Files Overview The MODIFICATION FLAG field reflects the update status of a specific record compared to the previous (monthly) publication. Two types of MODIFICATION FLAGs are used in the files: • ADM flags on page 20 • ADMU flags on page 20 ADM flags are used in the SEPAROUTING file and the IBANPLUS file. ADMU flags are used in the IBANSTRUCTURE file. ADM flags Value Description A Added since last issue. The record was not present in the previous issue and is therefore new in the current issue. In the FULL file, all records have the MODIFICATION FLAG set to A. This is because when a FULL file is being imported, all records must be added to the target data base. In the DELTA file, the new records are marked with A. D Deleted since last issue. In the FULL file, the record has been removed. In the DELTA file, the record is still present, but it is marked with D. It does not appear in the next issue of the DELTA file. M Modified since last issue. Not used in the FULL file. In the FULL file, the modified records have the MODIFICATION FLAG set to A. In the DELTA file, the modified records have the MODIFICATION FLAG set to M. ADMU flags Value Description A Added since last issue. The record was not present in the previous issue and is therefore new in the current issue. 23 September 2016 20 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications Value Description D Deleted since last issue. Fields and Flags for SWIFTRef Files The record has been removed since the previous issue. It still appears in this particular issue to provide the deletion information, but will not appear in future issues. M Modified since last issue. The record still exists in the current issue, but does not contain the same information as the previous issue. For example, when the name of the institution has changed since the last issue, that record has M as its MODIFICATION FLAG. U Unchanged since last issue. The record still exists in the current issue and contains the same information as in the previous issue. 23 September 2016 21 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications Payment Channel List C Payment Channel List C.1 Payment Channels in SEPA The following table lists the payment channels (CSMs or ACHs) in SEPA: Payment Channel ID Description BBSN BBS (NICS) Norway BGCS BGC Clearing Sweden BSVB Bankservice Bulgaria Yes CECB CEC/UCV Belgium Yes DBSC RPSE Retail Payment System SEPA Clearing Deutsche Bundesbank Germany Yes DIAS DIAS Greece(1) Yes EBAS EBA Clearing STEP2 SEPA Yes EQNS EQUENS (Interpay Netherlands & TAI Germany)(1) Yes EUGI Eurogiro Network A/S Yes FINA Financial Agency Croatia Yes GIRO GIRO Hungary IBPA Iberpay (SNCE) Spain(1) Yes KIRP KIR Poland(1) Yes PBSD PBS Denmark SCTI ICBPI-BICOMP Italy(1) Yes SIAS SIA Italy Yes SIBS SIBS Portugal Yes SICS euroSIC (Swiss Interbank Clearing) Switzerland STET STET (CORE) France STPA Clearing Service International (CS.I) - Austria 23 September 2016 SEPA Scheme compliant CSM Yes 22 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications Payment Channel List Payment Channel ID Description SEPA Scheme compliant CSM TRAN TRANSFOND Romania(1) Yes (1) Member of the European Clearing Cooperative (ECC) together with five other SEPA CSMs. Source: www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu If the Payment Channel ID is not known, then the field PAYMENT CHANNEL ID contains the value "Unknown". 23 September 2016 23 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications Cross-Referencing to Other Files D Cross-Referencing to Other Files D.1 Overview of the SEPAROUTING File CrossReferencing The data records in the SEPAROUTING file are cross-referenced with: D.2 • IBANPLUS file • COUNTRY CODE file IBAN BIC Field and ROUTING BIC Field The IBAN BIC field in the IBANPLUS file contains the BIC to be used as the identifier of the beneficiary institution in SEPA payments. It is not necessarily the BIC through which the SEPA payment must be routed. This BIC, if different from the IBAN BIC, is published in the SEPAROUTING file. Type of payment Example Where to find beneficiary bank's reachability (routing) SEPA payment SCTs and SDDs in XML format according to the ISO 20022 standard In the SEPAROUTING file Payment that is not cleared through a SEPA CSM Correspondent banking payment such as an MT103+ sent over the SWIFT network ROUTING BIC in the IBANPLUS file The ROUTING BIC and the BIC in the SEPA ROUTING file (the reachable BIC) are independent. Note For more information, see the SEPA Plus Frequently Asked Questions. IBANPLUS file RECORD KEY IBAN CC IBAN NATIONAL ID IBAN BIC ROUTING BIC IB00000000P6 AT 32000 RLNWATWWXXX RLNWATWWXXX IB0000002P2V ES 31710275 CXAVESB1XXX BCOEESMMXXX SEPAROUTING file RECORD KEY CC BIC SCHEME PAYMENT CHANNEL ID SP000000000A AT RLNWATWWXXX SCT EBAS SP000000000B AT RLNWATWWXXX SDD CORE EBAS 23 September 2016 24 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications Cross-Referencing to Other Files SEPAROUTING file RECORD KEY CC BIC SCHEME PAYMENT CHANNEL ID SP0000000F57 ES CXAVESB1XXXX SCT IBPA D.3 COUNTRY CODE Field The ISO COUNTRY CODE field in the file corresponds to the following, which are included in the Bank Directory Plus product: • the COUNTRY CODE field in the COUNTRY CODE file • the CURRENCY CODE file • the HOLIDAY file • the TIMEZONE file 23 September 2016 25 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications Publication Date and Validity Date for SWIFTRef Files E Publication Date and Validity Date for SWIFTRef Files E.1 Applicable Dates for SEPA Plus Data The SEPA Plus files are published on the same date as the BIC Directory. For the scheduled publication dates, see the Publication Schedule and Distribution Information. In general, the data records inside the SEPA Plus data files (that is, files included in the zip archive) are valid at publication date. For the full list of files, see the table in Monthly File Names on page 10. The publication date is specified in the file name, for example: • SEPAROUTING_V3_FULL_20160325.TXT • IBANPLUS_V3_DELTA_20160325.TXT However, a small part of the records in the monthly SEPAROUTING and IBANPLUS data files become valid later than the publication date. The validity date for these few records (mostly new BICs) is specified in the column FIELD A. The format of the validity date is YYYYMMDD. Examples are: BIC activated or deactivated in the future, NATIONAL ID valid as from a future date. For all records that are already valid on the date of publication, the FIELD A is empty. This applies to all daily update files. These files contain updates for immediate use. The file IBANSTRUCTURE does not have the column FIELD A. All its records are valid at the date specified in the file name. Note 23 September 2016 The BIC Directory uses the BIC activation date concept, where the entire file becomes valid at the activation date, rather than at the publication date. This concept is not applied to SEPA Plus files. 26 SEPA Plus Technical Specifications Legal Notices Legal Notices Copyright SWIFT © 2016. All rights reserved. Restricted Distribution Do not distribute this publication outside your organisation unless your subscription or order expressly grants you that right, in which case ensure you comply with any other applicable conditions. Disclaimer The information in this publication may change from time to time. You must always refer to the latest available version. Translations The English version of SWIFT documentation is the only official and binding version. Trademarks SWIFT is the trade name of S.W.I.F.T. SCRL. The following are registered trademarks of SWIFT: the SWIFT logo, SWIFT, SWIFTNet, Accord, Sibos, 3SKey, Innotribe, the Standards Forum logo, MyStandards, and SWIFT Institute. Other product, service, or company names in this publication are trade names, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners. 23 September 2016 27