The pronouncement follows a decision by the Central Bank which called on all banks to use the IBAN starting 7/1/2010.

The IBAN is a standard account number which is used in the European Union States. Its main purpose is to facilitate automatic processing of money transfers, and prevent delays and any extra costs due to the use of wrong account numbers in money transfers.

The Lebanese IBAN consists of a compound number of twenty-eight alphanumeric digits that includes the country code, bank /institution code, and the check digit, , (eg: IBAN: LB30 0999 0000 0001 0019 2557 9115).

The IBAN System has been implemented in 46 European Countries so far.

It is also implemented in countries like Tunisia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.