Start-up initiative counts 1000 cases of IBAN discrimination - in just five months

Accept my IBAN" was founded by N26 and Raisin from Germany, among others. Now the initiative is taking stock.

The Accept my IBAN initiative has reported 1,000 cases of IBAN discrimination and is thus celebrating a "first milestone", according to its own information. The coalition wants to draw attention to the fact that, contrary to legal regulations, a foreign IBAN can still be a disadvantage for customers.

Companies in the EU are not actually allowed to discriminate against their customers because they have an IBAN from a country or bank that they do not like. However, sometimes they refuse or make a transaction more difficult because of the IBAN. An EU directive was supposed to prevent this.

But apparently this is still happening to some German users. Every third person affected has a German IBAN, according to the Accept my IBAN initiative. Financial institutions in particular make it difficult to freely choose an IBAN, while the association lists communication companies, which may include mobile phone providers, in second place. According to the initiative's analysis, expats in other European countries in particular suffer from discrimination, especially in neighboring France. The discrimination hunters registered around 50 percent of German IBAN discrimination there. Accept my IBAN is now forwarding the cases to the European Commission.

The initiative was launched by N26, Revolut, Klarna, Sumup, Raisin and Wise. Many European start-ups and fintechs have since joined, including Contis, Fire, Monese, Starling, Yuropay and Payoneer.