CPMI sets out harmonised ISO 20022 data requirements for enhancing cross-border payments

The BIS‘ CPMI has published its Harmonised ISO 20022 data requirements for enhancing cross-border payments – Final Report to the G20 to establish a consistent minimum set of messaging standards for more efficient processing of cross-border payments. These data requirements aim to facilitate straight-through processing of end-to-end payments, making them faster and more reliable.
The report presents the CPMI’s harmonised ISO 20022 data requirements for the enhanced processing of cross-border payments. The harmonised requirements apply to interbank payments, clearing, and settlement messages, but the approach is relevant for the end-to-end cross-border payment chain. The requirements are the product of discussions within a joint task force of CPMI and industry ISO 20022 experts and were informed by the CPMI survey of payment system operators‘ ISO 20022 adoption plans conducted in late 2021. The report reflects intensive discussions by payment practitioners over the past two years and extensive consultation with industry, including feedback (see eventid=21250) from more than 50 stakeholders who responded to the CPMI’s public consultation in early 2023. The CPMI believes these data requirements reflect a broad market consensus.
The adoption of ISO 20022 as a common messaging standard by payment systems around the world is a crucial opportunity to promote greater interoperability cross-border. ISO 20022 allows for richer and more structured data compared with proprietary messaging standards, enhancing the efficiency of transaction screening for compliance and other purposes, resulting in faster and cheaper cross-border payments. The upcoming end of the coexistence period in the cross-border space between the SWIFT MT standard and ISO 20022 (currently scheduled for November 2025) has become a focal point for the payments industry in migrating to ISO 20022.
However, while this appears to offer the potential for enhanced cross-border payments, variability and inconsistency in the ways in which ISO 20022 is deployed across the globe would undercut some of its benefits. Many of the inefficiencies with cross-border payments faced by both the financial industry and its customers are caused by misaligned message flows and inconsistent data usage along the end-to-end payment chain. To address these inconsistencies, the CPMI’s harmonised ISO 20022 data requirements for enhanced cross-border payments have been developed in collaboration with the payments industry.
The CPMI’s harmonised ISO 20022 data requirements are presented as overarching data requirements that complement existing, more detailed market usage guidelines. They represent ISO 20022 data use practices that, from the perspectives of CPMI and payments industry messaging experts, are to be consistently applied in cross-border payments for the payment to be processed in the most efficient (i.e., straight-through) manner. The CPMI believes that its harmonisation requirements should take effect by end-2027, allowing for a two-year implementation period after the end of the SWIFT MT/ISO 20022 coexistence period, during which market participants will be recommended to align their messaging guidelines with the CPMI’s harmonisation requirements.
Realisation of the benefits of the harmonisation, however, will depend crucially on widespread uptake of the CPMI’s harmonisation requirements as limited or incomplete uptake will result in continued fragmentation and lack of interoperability. As such, market participants are encouraged to begin preparations to align with the harmonised ISO 20022 data requirements in earnest and by end-2027 at the latest. The CPMI will continue its engagement with payment system operators and financial institutions to foster the implementation of the harmonised data requirements by end-2027. It will also consider how consistent implementation can be assured in future as the payments landscape evolves.