The Treasury and Public Debt Management Agency (IGCP) has enhanced security measures for savings accounts with a new mandatory validation of the Tax Identification Number (NIF) and the associated IBAN. These rules come into effect this Monday.
“Starting October 20, 2025, a new mandatory validation process for the Tax Identification Number (NIF) / bank account number (IBAN) associated with savings accounts will be implemented,” stated the IGCP.
The goal is “to ensure that the NIF and IBAN actually belong to the account holder, preventing fraud and reinforcing the integrity of operations.”
If the matching between the registered NIF and IBAN cannot be confirmed, “the savings account will be temporarily immobilized. In such cases, savers must visit an authorized service point (CTT stores or Citizen Space Network disclosed on the IGCP website) and present an updated IBAN proof,” explained the public debt management agency.
The Court of Auditors (TdC) has identified risks of prescription of Savings and Treasury Certificates worth 1.174 billion euros, partly because the IGCP cannot pay families due to immobilized accounts or deceased holders.
According to the report on the State General Account (CGE) of 2024, there was an “increase in the balances held by the IGCP (spanning a long time frame – 2005 to 2024), the persistence in the debt stock of possibly prescribed titles (due to lack of information) and others at risk of prescription.”
The identified risks include 603 million euros in the debt stock, which are “related to instruments belonging to 16,782 holders (deceased or with other balances held by the IGCP, immobilized or available),” as well as 494 million in the debt stock concerning 56,759 accounts without cross-referable information with the Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN).
Additionally, there are 77 million euros held by the Treasury Management and Public Debt Agency – IGCP (47 million in immobilized accounts and 30 million available), belonging to 6,710 holders, which the entity cannot pay either due to inability to process the payment or because they are immobilized due to the holder’s death.
Most of this amount was associated with series C savings certificates, noting that “the main portion of these values held by the IGCP relates to deceased holders, but there are also significant amounts for other reasons.”
Accounts are immobilized, which may also be due to court orders or liens, while the available accounts encounter issues such as closed accounts and IBAN problems.
The TdC also highlights that these 77 million “are not reflected in the CGE, as they should be, under ‘payable charge balances.'”
The report warns that “without the flexibilization of some rules and an effective communication strategy, the process of converting Savings Certificates may result in loss of interest for families.”
