Payments Canada reported that Lynx, Canada’s high-value payment system, has completed its transition to the ISO 20022 financial messaging standard using MX messages, ending the coexistence period in which both legacy MT and MX payment messages were supported. The end of MT messaging on Lynx aligns with Swift’s global initiative to discontinue payment instruction MT messages. Lynx, which replaced the Large Value Transfer System in 2021, operates on a real-time gross settlement model and introduced ISO 20022 MX messaging in its March 2023 release to enable data-rich, XML-based payment processing. As part of the move to an MX-only environment, Lynx MX messages are also being updated to implement Swift Payment Market Practice Group’s hybrid postal address format, allowing a mix of structured elements (including town name and country) and unstructured address lines, with the aim of reducing errors and supporting compliance processes such as sanctions screening and anti-money laundering monitoring. Payments Canada also reiterated its push for end-to-end ISO 20022 adoption across its operated systems, including Lynx and the forthcoming Real-Time Rail, and highlighted that institutions need to be able to send and receive Lynx MX messages to realise the intended benefits of richer payment data.
Payments Canada 2025-11-26
Payments Canada confirms Lynx has fully adopted ISO 20022 MX messaging with MT retirement and hybrid address format update
Payments Canada announced the completion of Lynx's transition to the ISO 20022 financial messaging standard, ending the coexistence of legacy MT and MX messages. This aligns with Swift's global initiative to discontinue MT messages. Payments Canada emphasized the need for institutions to adopt ISO 20022 across its systems, including Lynx and the upcoming Real-Time Rail, to fully leverage enhanced payment data.