diff --git a/src/class.Validate.php b/src/class.Validate.php
index d83ec63..58a1715 100644
--- a/src/class.Validate.php
+++ b/src/class.Validate.php
@@ -135,20 +135,20 @@ class Validate
             "ES" => 24, "SE" => 24, "CH" => 21, "TN" => 24, "TR" => 26, "AE" => 23, "GB" => 22, "VG" => 24
         ];
 
-        $iban = mb_ereg_replace("/(\s|\-)/", "", $iban); // sanitize for validation (remove spaces)
-        $country = mb_strtoupper(mb_substr($iban, 0, 2));
+        $iban = preg_replace("/(\s|\-)/", "", $iban); // sanitize for validation (remove spaces)
+        $country = strtoupper(substr($iban, 0, 2));
 
         // we know the country the IBAN belongs to?
         if(isset($country_length[$country])) {
 
             // The IBAN matches in length and basic structure?
             $matches = null;
-            if(mb_ereg_match('/^([A-Za-z]{2})(\d{2})([A-Za-z0-9]{' . ($country_length[$country]-4) . '})$/', $iban, $matches)) {
+            if(preg_match('/^([A-Za-z]{2})(\d{2})([A-Za-z0-9]{' . ($country_length[$country]-4) . '})$/', $iban, $matches)) {
                 $checkNum = $matches[1];
                 $bban = strtoupper($matches[2]);
 
                 // Replace letters with digits (a or A => 11, b or B => 12,..)
-                $checkString = mb_ereg_replace_callback('/[A-Z]/', function ($matches) {
+                $checkString = preg_replace_callback('/[A-Z]/', function ($matches) {
                         return base_convert($matches[0], 36, 10);
                 }, $bban . $country . '00');
 
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ class Validate
         $swift = trim($swift); // sanitize swift/bic
 
         if($iban !== null) {
-            $iban = mb_ereg_replace("/(\s|\-)/", "", $iban); // sanitize iban
+            $iban = preg_replace("/(\s|\-)/", "", $iban); // sanitize iban
 
             $api_result = file_get_contents("https://api.swiftrefdata.com/v1/ibans/$iban/bic.xml");
             $api_result_array = json_decode(json_encode((array) simplexml_load_string($api_result)),1);
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ class Validate
 
         }
 
-        return mb_ereg_match("^([a-zA-Z]){4}([a-zA-Z]){2}([0-9a-zA-Z]){2}([0-9a-zA-Z]{3})?$", $swift);
+        return preg_match("^([a-zA-Z]){4}([a-zA-Z]){2}([0-9a-zA-Z]){2}([0-9a-zA-Z]{3})?$", $swift);
     }
 
 }
\ No newline at end of file