Under new Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) rules, the use of the International Bank Account Number (IBAN) to uniquely identify the bank and account of payment beneficiaries will soon become mandatory for all internatonal and domestic euro payments. Major corporate treasuries, such as Microsoft, are proactively implementing solutions to ensure compliance in advance of the deadline.

Experian's Bank Wizard Global validates and converts bank account data for Microsoft across 228 territories to the appropriate format for use at the point of collection or payment initiation. This will help Microsoft to ensure smooth, timely and successful delivery of payments using multiple payment mechanisms through various banking associates and payment service providers.

Experian's software and decision analytics will also enable Microsoft to correctly configure bank account information to the standard IBAN (international bank account number) format, ensuring that its Euro payments are compliant ahead of the February 2014 SEPA deadline.

Colin Kerr, Industry Solutions Manager, Worldwide Financial Services, Microsoft, comments: "Supply chains for organizations with a global business are complex. Payments need to be delivered in a timely and reliable manner to all participants regardless of their global location. The Experian solution, based on Microsoft technology, helps cut through that complexity, improves service levels and enables supply associates to receive payments as quickly and painlessly as possible."

Jonathan Williams, Director of Payment Strategy, Experian, comments: "Bank Wizard Global has enabled Microsoft to provide a faster, cost-effective service to re-sellers and supply associates, since it ensures that transaction and payment details are accurate and valid from the outset. It also gives the company full confidence to know its payments systems are already fully SEPA-compliant".