Global creditor reference

Creditor reference to be adopted globally

Nordea has actively spoken in favour of the creditor reference in various cooperation organs of companies and banks, such as the European Payments Council (EPC).

Customers' participation will also be needed to ensure that the reference will be largely adopted in Europe and in the rest of the world. When a Finnish customer addresses an invoice abroad, the Finnish reference should be printed on the invoice in the international format. This way foreign trading partners become accustomed to using the reference.

Nordea's reference number calculator can also be used to generate international references. The calculator forms the international references so that they follow the rules of forming both the Finnish reference and the international reference. 

How does your business benefit from the reference?

• The possibility of using the reference will be extended to all invoicing.
• The internationally standardised information specifying payments brings added value especially to companies that have cross-border invoicing.
• The beneficiary can match all payments with a reference automatically to the invoices in the ledger.
• The identification of payers will become easier especially in the case of foreign trading partners.
• The control and reconciliation of payments will become more efficient than before.
• The reference can also be used for credit invoices.