#7: A Global Standard for Payment Messaging- Everything You Need to Know About ISO 20022

23 Nov

25th January 2023

With:

| Saskia Devolder (SWIFT)

| John Jackson (Bank of England)

In Session #7, Saskia Devolder (SWIFT) and John Jackson (Bank of England) join FNA to discuss the transition to ISO 20022. As the industry moves away from fragmented, legacy "MT" messages, this new global standard introduces a common XML-based language for every financial transaction—from retail payments to multi-billion dollar securities settlements.

The guests explore the "Structured Data" advantage: by requiring specific fields for every part of a payment (such as ultimate debtor and creditor), ISO 20022 significantly reduces manual intervention and "false positives" in AML screening. John Jackson provides a deep dive into the Bank of England’s RTGS renewal programme, explaining how the new standard acts as a catalyst for API integration and real-time reconciliation, effectively bridging the gap between traditional banking and the modern fintech ecosystem.

The Session Covered:

The "One Language" Goal: Why the industry is moving toward a single, open standard to replace proprietary formats like ISO 15022 and ISO 8583.
The Rich Data Dividend: How structured data fields (like Purpose Codes and LEIs) enable straight-through processing (STP) and dramatically lower the cost of cross-border payments.
The UK’s Migration Path: Insights from the Bank of England on the phased rollout of ISO 20022 within the CHAPS system and its impact on the wider economy.
Leveling the Playing Field: Discussing whether ISO 20022 gives fintechs a competitive edge over legacy banks by enabling easier API-driven service integration.
The API Nexus: How the standardized data model of ISO 20022 serves as the "source of truth" that allows APIs to communicate seamlessly across different global networks.
Impact on Firms & Consumers: From faster corporate treasury reconciliation to more transparent information in consumer mobile banking apps—who wins in the new data-rich environment?
Migration Timeline: A status report on the global "coexistence" period (2022–2025) and the challenges banks face in mapping old data to new, mandatory fields.