Information on foreign payments for business clients

Changes since October 2025: addresses in SEPA and cross-border payments

Following changes in communication within SWIFT network (ISO20022 standardization) and in SEPA clearing we will introduce some changes in the way cross-border and SEPA transfers are entered in the CEB service – from 20th October 2025.

What changes for you as an user

To enter an address in foreign (including non-CZK transfers within CZ) and SEPA payments fields of 3 x 35 characters were used, and there was an additional field for the country of the counterparty.

newly you will be able to enter each part of the address separately, i.e. country, town, street and street number and ZIP code
new standard supports also other attributes, such as region, subregion, town location and other less frequent fields – even such detail can be entered
address of the counterparty is optional as such, however can be required by the counterparty bank for some countries or currencies (such as USA or Canada, USD or CAD transfers respectively – not meant as a complete list)
should you enter any part of the address (e.g. street), make sure to add also country and town – these two are mandatory ones

Address is usually entered for the counterparty, similar principle will apply to:

bank address (of the counterparty) – which is usually set by SWIFT code and does not have to be entered (for SEPA transfers it is derived from IBAN version of the account number)
addresses of the ultimate debtor and ultimate creditor (such attributes are limited in usage though)

Account movements and statements

Checking the posted transactions on the account or working with the statements you can encounter some other changes:

in the account movements for the cross-border or SEPA payments additional details can be presented – provided they were sent with the transaction as such (e.g. full address of the counterparty)
in the PDF format statements you can also register more detail then till now
data formats for ERP processing do not change, most of them support 3 x 35 character fields for addresses and there the address parts will be provided (trimmed where needed)

CBA XML format (camt.053) already provides full detail of address in dedicated elements, should you need to work with these.

Payment imports

In case you import payment batches from your accounting software (for foreign or SEPA payments), please note also following lines.

Most of the import formats already have dedicated space for address or country of the counterparty, the address is usually put to 3 x 35 character fields. Import formats do not change and you can use them even after the change takes place, we will only specify the way data are processed (interpreted):

first line (first 35 characters) will be considered as a street and street number (the number starting with a digit)
second line (second 35 characters) is considered as ZIP code (starting with a digit) and town
last line is interpreted as rest of the town name
in case only first line is entered, this will be taken as a town name (as mandatory address part)

Should you use the DUZ format, note it did not have dedicated field for country (of the counterparty) definition – please adjust it and add this new field in case you plan to use it further and provide addresses in your payments.

The possibility to enter all the details of the address (i.e. all the fields supported) is offered by the XML formats as defined by the CZ banking association (formats for foreign and SEPA transfers). Adjusted format descriptions stressing out the changes in the interpretation of address fields are available at the ČSOB CEB service pages..

Multicash service

Multicash users can use the app as till now. The screens of the application present addresses as it used to be before the change above (3 x 35 characters plus country of the counterparty) and this does not change.

The address fields will be interpreted similar way as noted for the CEB service, i.e.:

first line (first 35 characters) will be considered as a street and street number (the number starting with a digit)
second line (second 35 characters) is considered as ZIP code (starting with a digit) and town
last line is interpreted as rest of town name
in case only first line is entered, this will be taken as a town name (as mandatory address part)

The same applies in case CFA format is used to import the payments to the Multicash application (this format does not change). Should you use SPA module for SEPA transfers, you can also use XML format (pain.001) to import SEPA payment batches.

Specific requirements for payments to selected countries or in selected currencies

When entering a payment order to certain countries or in certain currencies, you need to provide the specific information required under local law. Without this information, payment processing may be delayed, or the payment may not be transferred to the payee at all. Please ask the payee for specific details.

Please select the country to which you want to transfer the payment:

Payment to Bahrain

To which payments do the rules apply?: All payments directed to Bahrain (regardless of the currency, the payee’s bank is the decisive factor)
Purpose of the payment: /BENEFRES/BH//XXX/, where XXX is the SWIFT purpose code – to obtain the specific code, please contact the counterparty to the transaction.

Payment to Canada or in CAD

To which payments do the rules apply?: all payments to Canada or in CAD
Payee’s address: it is mandatory to provide the complete address of the payee: street name, number, city, province / state, country

Payment to China in CNY

To which payments do the rules apply?

All payments to China in CNY

Payee

the real name or business name of the company to receive the funds
the first line with the payee’s address should start with ADD

Purpose of the payment

depending on the nature of the payment, one of these code words must be specified:

CGODDR – for payments for goods
CSTRDR – for payments for services

where this information is provided in the Instruction for the bank (or Instruction to the bank or Statistics, depending on the application) (i.e. it is not a standard purpose of payment or message to the payee)

Sample payment illustration

Payment to Jordan

To which payments do the rules apply?: All payments directed to Jordan (regardless of the currency, the payee’s bank is the decisive factor)
Payee: the payee’s account number – must be in the IBAN format
Purpose of the payment: The code identification of the purpose of the payment must be specified in the format required by the local central bank. The code consists of four digits (e.g. 9876 – the specific code should be provided by the counterparty to the transaction) and should be entered from the first position of the Purpose of payment (or Payment details, depending on the application). It can be followed by further details of the amount paid (e.g. an invoice number, etc.).

Payment to Myanmar (Burma)

To which payments do the rules apply?: All payments directed to Myanmar (regardless of the currency, the payee’s bank is the decisive factor)
Purpose of the payment: A code identification of the purpose of the payment in the format required under local legislation. The code consists of four digits (e.g. 2510 – the specific code should be provided by the counterparty to the transaction) and should start with ITRS CODE and be entered in the Purpose of payment field (or Payment details, depending on the application) in the payment order. It can be followed by further details of the amount paid (e.g. an invoice number, etc.).

Payment to the United Arab Emirates

To which payments do the rules apply?: All payments directed to the United Arab Emirates (regardless of the currency, the payee’s bank is the decisive factor)
Payee: the payee’s account number must be specified in the IBAN format
Purpose of the payment: The code identification of the purpose of the payment in the format required by the local central bank. The information starts with a slash, the PPC keyword, another slash and a 3-letter code (e.g. /PPC/GDS for the purchase and sale of goods – we recommend obtaining the specific code from the payee; the slashes are important for automatic processing). This identification can be followed by additional text regarding the amount paid (e.g. an invoice number, etc.).

Payment to the United States of America or in USD

To which payments do the rules apply?

All payments to the United States of America in USD

Payee

the actual payee is indicated – at least the first two fields for the name and address are completed (at least three alphanumeric characters)
the payee’s address in the US includes the US state code (two digits – e.g. AK)
the name and address of the payee must also be provided when making a payment in USD outside the US or when making a payment in any currency to a US account

Payee’s bank

SWIFT (BIC) code of the payee’s bank
alternatively, you can enter the bank address and possibly its national code (ABA routing number or FW for FedWire) – please request the required details from the payee

Sample payment illustration

Payment to Uganda

To which payments do the rules apply?: All payments directed to Uganda (regardless of the currency, the payee’s bank is the decisive factor)
Payee: the payee’s address must be completed
Purpose of the payment: A code identification of the purpose of the payment in the format required under local legislation. The code usually consists of four letters (e.g. CORT, where the specific code should be provided by the counterparty to the transaction) and is to be entered on the last free line of the Purpose of payment field (or Payment details, depending on the application) in the payment order. The preceding part of this field can be used to leave a message for the payee (e.g. invoice numbers).

The overview highlights mainly the fields/information where the indication is different from foreign payments in general (the purpose is not to describe the general fields of a foreign payment order, such as amount, currency, etc.)