Charging of fees for payments

The charging of fees for currency payments changed as of 1 May 2010. The change is based on the payment services act. The act is based on a directive of the European Community, which obligates all European banks and bank customers to act in the same way.

Payments to the EU member states and EEA countries

By virtue of the act, the payer and the payee will be liable for the fees charged by their own service provider. Shared costs (SHA) are the only allowed means of charging fees, when

• the payee's bank is in a EU member state or in an EEA country and
• the payment currency is the euro or a currency of some other member state and
• the payment is made from an account in the same currency, ie no foreign exchange trade is involved.

Under the payment services act, the bank may not execute payment orders which would require illegal charging of fees. The bank does not forward the payments but they are rejected. Our customers receive feedback on rejected payments, for example, electronically or via Netbank.

he payer and the payee may agree on charging fees otherwise if a payment transaction involves currency exchange or the currency of the payment is other than a member state's currency, eg the US dollar (USD).

Other payments

It is be possible to send an outgoing payment so that the payee

• will receive the payment deducted with the costs of his or her own bank (shared costs, SHA) or
• the payee receives the payment in full (all costs from the payer, OUR).

The payer and the payee may mutually agree on paying the service fees.

Shared costs are, however, always the most common means and the most inexpensive alternative of charging fees. We recommend the use of "shared costs" if it has not been agreed otherwise.