This information enables banking transactions (payments, instructions, etc.) to be routed correctly thereby allowing their immediate execution in favor of the beneficiary, whether it is a personal customer, a company or the bank itself.

Being part of the service means a reduction in errors when processing the bank coordinates of customers and suppliers, thereby improving the efficiency of accounting procedures.
Using the SIA CAB Service means placing your trust in the institutional processor used for the same purpose by the banking system, with the guarantee of accuracy and speed of updating of the data handled.

The APIBA component entails managing the data relating to bank branches and the related bankable locations which enable banks to provide the collection service on behalf of customers.

To meet SEPA requirements, the archive manages the BIC codes associated with ABI-CAB.
The functions for Businesses provide for on-line consultation and download through a web interface with the following options:

• inquiry single branch 
• inquiry CAB list occupied for a given bank 
• inquiry CAB list available for a given bank 
• inquiry list of active municipalities 
• inquiry list of closed municipalities 
• inquiry list of branches per bank 
• inquiry list of CAB codes and towns served
• inquiry list of branches per town
• inquiry list of towns and districts
• inquiry CAB global archive
• inquiry CAB changes archive.

The CAB Service involves the participation of banks and Poste Italiane and data disclosure also involves institutional parties (Bank of Italy, Italian Banking Association, Government Ministries and other public bodies) and also private non-banking companies.

The procedure includes the following functionalities:

• updating of the centralized archive following the assignment, variation, cancellation of one or more branch codes and the re-assignment of codes already assigned in the case of bank mergers; 
• information disclosure: distribution to the relevant bodies, via the National Interbank Network (RNI), of the updates made to branch codes on the specific date and periodic distribution (monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and annually) of the updates or the overall archive.

The exchange of information involves the use of the RNI (message switching and file transfer); use of traditional procedures (telex, letter) and special hardcopy forms is also permitted.

Data consultation, disclosure of archives and detailed requests for information stored in the CAB archives are also available from January 2004 via a web interface; this new functionality enables access to users not connected to the National Interbank Network and extends consultation to non-banking parties.

In addition, the system enables direct consultation of the central database, which is updated in real time.