Estonia IBAN
A Estonia IBAN is 20 characters long and Estonia is in SEPA.
EE and two check digits open every Estonia IBAN; its remaining 16 form the BBAN (Basic Bank Account Number).
Example Estonia IBAN
Electronic format
EE382200221020145685
Print format
EE38 2200 2210 2014 5685
IBAN structure for Estonia
Major banks in Estonia
2 banks in Estonia that support IBAN-based international transfers:
Format reference: SWIFT IBAN Registry.
Estonia IBAN questions
Which institutions in Estonia may call themselves a bank?
Only those that take deposits from the public, Finantsinspektsioon says, and the only businesses established in Estonia allowed to do so hold its licence as a credit institution. SEB Pank, Swedbank and Luminor are supervised directly by the ECB's Single Supervisory Mechanism, while branches of foreign banks operating in Estonia answer to the supervisor of the bank's home country.
Must an Estonian bank explain why it refuses or ends a payment service?
Generally yes. The Estonian Banking Association cites § 89 of the Credit Institutions Act, which requires a bank to give written reasons for refusing or cancelling a payment service contract, with information on the right to appeal. Reasons may be withheld where disclosure would conflict with the anti-money-laundering act or another law, or harm cooperation with law enforcement.
Can a refugee from Ukraine open an account in Estonia to receive money?
The Estonian Banking Association says several banks open accounts for Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war, naming LHV Pank, Luminor, Coop Pank, SEB Pank, Swedbank and TBB Pank. A Ukrainian passport is generally accepted together with a temporary protection or residence permit card, or a copy of the decision to issue one. Opening can take up to 14 working days.
Estonia: ESTA's closure, reference numbers and Finantsinspektsioon
Estonia joined the euro area on 1 January 2011, after the EU Council approved its request on 13 July 2010, and the euro replaced the kroon at a fixed 15.6466 kroons per euro. The kroon ceased to be legal tender on 15 January 2011, but Eesti Pank still exchanges kroon banknotes and coins without limit of amount or time. The central bank also manages Estonia's component of the Eurosystem's TARGET services.
- Retail payments between Estonian banks once settled at Eesti Pank. Its ESTA system, launched on 3 October 2005, settled them on a gross basis against cash collateral the banks deposited. ESTA closed at the end of January 2014 because it did not meet SEPA requirements, and the banks moved their mutual payments to STEP2, run by EBA Clearing.
- Eesti Pank had tried to keep a domestic system. A procurement it announced in September 2012 was won by the French consortium STET, whose SEPA-compliant design would have kept interbank settlement at ten times a day, but the central bank withdrew the plan at the end of May 2013 for lack of interest from the biggest banks.
- Estonian invoices carry a viitenumber, a reference number the payer copies into the transfer. Under the Estonian Banking Association's standard it has 2 to 20 digits, ending in a check digit calculated with the weights 7, 3 and 1 from right to left; Estonian banks have checked reference numbers against it since 1 February 1997 and reject invalid ones.
Sources: ECB: euro cash changeover in Estonia; Eesti Pank: development of settlement systems in Estonia; Eesti Pank: retail payment system to close (30 May 2013); Estonian Banking Association: invoice reference number.
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