What it means
When you tell the buyer which bank account to pay into (bank transfer details, BG-17), the bank is identified by its BIC in the payment service provider identifier (BT-86). In UBL that is the cbc:ID inside cac:FinancialInstitutionBranch. This rule checks that the file has no cac:FinancialInstitution element at all. That element sits inside the bank branch and can hold more bank details, such as a name and an address, which EN 16931 has no field for.
Why it matters
This is a warning. The extra bank details have no matching field in EN 16931. It is worth fixing the next time you adjust your export, and sooner if the recipient or your Peppol access point asks for a file with no warnings.
How to fix it
In your invoicing software, look at the bank details of your payment account and keep the IBAN and, if you use one, the BIC. If you build the XML yourself, delete cac:FinancialInstitution from cac:FinancialInstitutionBranch and put the BIC directly in the cbc:ID of cac:FinancialInstitutionBranch.
Once the file is corrected, check it again for free: Validate an invoice against EN 16931
Or fix the invoice in a form and download the corrected file, for 1 credit: Fix a rejected e-invoice
The rule as published
A UBL invoice should not include the FinancialInstitutionBranch FinancialInstitution Where this rule applies
| Rule set | Version |
|---|---|
| EN 16931 (UBL) | 1.3.17 |
| EN 16931 (UBL credit note) | 1.3.17 |
| XRechnung 3.0 (UBL) | 3.0.2 |
| XRechnung 3.0 (UBL credit note) | 3.0.2 |
| Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 (invoice) | 2026.5 |
| Peppol BIS Billing 3.0 (credit note) | 2026.5 |
| SI-UBL 2.0 / NLCIUS (invoice) | 2.0.3.13 |
| SI-UBL 2.0 / NLCIUS (credit note) | 2.0.3.13 |
| France CTC (UBL invoice) | 1.4.0-04 |
| France CTC (UBL credit note) | 1.4.0-04 |
| CIUS-RO UBL Invoice 1.0.9 | 1.0.9 |
| CIUS-RO UBL Credit Note 1.0.9 | 1.0.9 |
Check your file
Drop your e-invoice to see whether UBL-CR-664 still fails, and which other rules do.
Related rules
- UBL-CR-665 Only an invoiced object reference may carry a scheme identifier
- UBL-CR-666 An invoiced object reference must not carry an attachment
- UBL-CR-667 The buyer's item number must be written without a scheme
- UBL-CR-668 The seller's item number must be written without a scheme
- UBL-CR-669 A price discount must not carry a reason code
- UBL-CR-670 A price discount must not carry a reason text