ISO 20022 for banks and non-bank PSPs: a global messaging standard

The adoption of the messaging standard ISO 20022 is at the core of a major transformation across the payments industry, involving Market Infrastructures such as CHAPS, Financial Institutions and Payments Service Providers.

Introducing ISO 20022

ISO 20022 (sometimes referred to as MX by SWIFT) is a standard that allows for richer, more structured data content than the current legacy messaging standards and will bring consistency to the financial messages passed between participants.

The change to a new format has a number of significant implications for all participants across the industry.

What is changing?

The new format replaces the well-known MT1, 2 and 9 series messages. In simple terms this means that all commercial payments will migrate from MT103 to pacs.008 format, treasury payments will migrate from MT202 to pacs.009, and balance and transaction reporting messages will migrate from MT 9xx to camt messages. In addition, the Exceptions and Investigations processes will migrate to MX messages over time.

We will all need to get used to a new language. Instead of an Ordering Party and Ordering Bank, we will need to get used to Debtor and Debtor Agent. There will also be some new concepts that do not existing in MT messages, such as Ultimate Debtor and Creditor fields, as well as the Instructing and Instructed Agent.

For a complete overview of new message types and terminology, please see www.swift.com/standards/iso-20022^ . In addition, you can find detailed formatting guidance on Barclays FIG Community at www.swift.com/Mystandards^ and online training modules on www.swiftsmart.swift.com^. You will require a SWIFT account to access these sites.
New messages will be transmitted across the SWIFTNet Interact (FIN+) network, rather than the current FIN network. This implies that SWIFT connected banks will require a new SWIFT Gateway and have Relationship Management Application keys (RMA) that are grandfathered from the SWIFT FIN network.

The new SWIFT Transaction Management Platform will provide support for translation, truncation and enrichment, and should help the industry to transition to the new format at different paces.

For more information about the network changes, please see www.swift.com/standards/iso-20022.^

The Market Infrastructures of the top ten currencies around the globe are either already using the new format or are migrating to ISO 20022 in the coming years. The below table provides a brief overview of this shift.

Market infrastructure	Existing format	MX
Europe - EURO1	Up to March 2023	From March 2023
Europe - STEP1	Up to March 2023	From March 2023
Europe - T2	Up to March 2023	From March 2023
UK - CHAPS	Up to June 2023	From June 2023
USA - CHIPS	Up to April 2024	From April 2024
USA - Fedwire	Up to March 2025	From March 2025
SWIFT	-	From November 2025
Barclays	-	From November 2025

During the coexistence period (from March 2023 to 2025), if an MX message is received, Barclays will send as MX. Likewise, if an MT message is received, Barclays will send as MT (unless settling across a Market Infrastructure that has migrated to ISO). Therefore, please be aware that you will receive a mixture of MX & MT messaging from Barclays until 2025.

Please note: Migration timelines are subject to changes based on industry developments and specific market guidance. Barclays does not accept liability for the accuracy of the dates mentioned.

ISO 20022 also provides flexibility over which data elements are encouraged and, in some cases, which are mandatory.

As we progress through this transition, Barclays will be communicating more detail around which data elements are mandatory via SWIFT MyStandards. We encourage you to consider these developments in your strategy for the coming years.

Sterling: CHAPS

Bank of England published position is as followed:

Feature	From June 2023	From May 2025	From November 2025	End State (2026 earliest)
Purpose of Payment	Encouraged	Mandatory: for Property Transaction and FI to FI; otherwise encouraged	Mandatory: for Property Transaction and FI to FI; otherwise encouraged	Mandatory
Legal Entity Identifier	Encouraged	Mandatory: for DP’s own proprietary channel and FI to FI; encouraged: corporates	Mandatory: FI to FI encouraged: corporates	Mandatory
Structured Remittance Data	Encouraged	Encouraged	Encouraged	Mandatory from November 2027
Structured/Hybrid Address	Structured - Encouraged	Structured - Encouraged	Structured or Hybrid - Encouraged	Structured or Hybrid Mandatory

Cross-Border and Euro High-Value (Target2 / EURO1 / STEP1) Payments

Financial Institutions must be able to receive enriched messages.

Feature	Key Dates
Structured Remittance Data	Expected to be Mandatory from November 2027
Structured/Hybrid Addresses	Optional and encouraged from November 2025 Mandatory from November 2026
Unstructured Addresses	Will be removed from November 2026
Legal Entity Identifier	Likely to be increasingly encouraged

INR Payments

Feature	Key Dates
Remitter & Beneficiary (or both) are non-individuals	If payment is above INR 50 crore / 500m, LEI is mandatory to be provided for both the beneficiary and the remitter from April 2021
Remitter & Beneficiary (or both) are non-individuals	LEI is mandatory to be provided in all future payments irrespective of transaction size from October 2022

* Industry developments, Barclays solutions and timelines are subject to change. Barclays does not accept liability for the accuracy of the dates mentioned.

Benefits of ISO 20022

This new format replaces SWIFT MT. Standardising the format so that it is similar across the globe (e.g. FPS and CHAPS using the same format) helps to drive value for users, with potential for innovation, improved security and speed.

Although the change is driven by Market Infrastructures and SWIFT, there are lots of commercial benefits in using this new format for the industry.

Operational efficiencies

Enhanced data available to you may have potential benefits for improving your reconciliation and cash flow forecasting.

FinCrime

Anti-money laundering controls, sanctions screening and fraud monitoring available.

Analytics

Richer, more structured data offers opportunities for better analytics. Better structure to the data we capture can help inform decision making.

Enable innovation

Build once, use for many different domestic and international payments.

In addition to the direct benefits ISO 20022 will bring to your organisation, you will also enhance your customer proposition. All your retail, SME and corporate clients could benefit from richer payment data, operational efficiencies and a centralised treasury function as a result of this industry migration.

What this means to your organisation

Barclays intends to support banks, broker dealers and non-bank PSPs that want to adopt the new format. We recognise that each organisation is different and may need a partner to schedule the change to suit their situation. Please speak with your Relationship Director or Cash Specialist to discuss how we can further support your transition.

What it means for an early adopter

Clearing in MT or MX

You can instruct Barclays in pacs.008 and pacs.009 to take advantage of the benefits of the new format.

Forward Receipts in MT or MX

By default, Barclays will send MT if we receive in MT and send MX if we receive in MX format.
For GBP and EUR payments this means we will send in MX format when we receive from scheme but you can indicate in the SWIFT Transaction Manager if you want to receive in MX or in Multi-format (MX with embedded MT).

Balance and Transaction Reporting in MT or MX

By default, Barclays will continue to provide reporting in MT format and intend to support you with reporting in camt format.

What it means for a late adopter

Clearing in MT or MX

Instruct Barclays in MT as you do today until November 2025.

Forward Receipts in MT or MX

Be ready to receive MX (multi-format messages). The embedded MT message should enable you to continue to process in your existing systems and processes.

Balance and Transaction Reporting in MT or MX

Barclays will continue to provide reporting in MT format until you are ready to receive MX.

Testing

There are three routes for self-testing.

Plan

Use SWIFT MyStandards to validate that your ISO 20022 messages meet CBPR+ usage guidelines. You will find a dedicated Barclays community page within MyStandards which will detail best practice and Straight Through Processing (STP) guidance. For access to our community page, please reach out to your Relationship Director.

Prove

The SWIFT Test Sparring Partner (TSP) is a new automated testing facility that will support the community in its readiness testing of CBPR+ messages and flows. It is an avenue to prove your systems are ready to send and receive the new ISO 2022 messages. Playing the role of a fictitious institution on the FINplus Pilot service, it allows users to simulate flows as a Debtor, Creditor or Intermediary Agent for a set of pre-defined test scenarios.

Assurance

Penny testing provides the final piece of assurance before you switch to sending CBPR+ messages. From March 2023, when CBPR+ messages are live on the SWIFT network, you can test your set up by sending send low value payments to accounts held with Barclays or other banks. Barclays will be able to confirm that payments were processed STP and you will be able to check that the correct advices and account posting were generated and everything was reconciled as expected.

Further Support

SWIFT
Introduction to the new standard, golden source for formatting specifications and online training resources.

ISO20022.org ^
Site dedicated to ISO 20022 developments, message definitions and additional details such as external code sets, national clearing codes etc.

Payments Market Practice Group^
The PMPG is an independent SWIFT advisory group, comprised of payments experts from around the globe.

Bank of England^
This section of the Bank of England website is dedicated to the adoption of ISO20022.

European Central Bank^
This section of the ECB website is dedicated to the adoption of ISO20022.

For any further queries or support, please reach out to your Relationship Director.

Read related insights

ISO 20022 for banks and non-bank PSPs: a global messaging standard

The adoption of the messaging standard ISO 20022 is at the core of a major transformation across the payments industry, involving Market Infrastructures such as CHAPS, Financial Institutions and Payments Service Providers.

Introducing ISO 20022

What is changing?

Sterling: CHAPS

Cross-Border and Euro High-Value (Target2 / EURO1 / STEP1) Payments

INR Payments

Benefits of ISO 20022

Operational efficiencies

FinCrime

Analytics

Enable innovation

What this means to your organisation

What it means for an early adopter

Clearing in MT or MX

Forward Receipts in MT or MX

Balance and Transaction Reporting in MT or MX

What it means for a late adopter

Clearing in MT or MX

Forward Receipts in MT or MX

Balance and Transaction Reporting in MT or MX

Testing

Further Support

Banks

FinTech

ISO 20022 for corporates

Important information