SWIFT announced that the global financial community has completed the transition to ISO 20022 as the standard messaging language for cross-border payments worldwide, with the final cutover on 22 November ending the coexistence period with the traditional MT message format. ISO 20022 is now required for all payment instructions. The coexistence period for cross-border payments and reporting (CBPR+) began in March 2023 to support migration, following the community’s 2018 decision to adopt ISO 20022. On 24 November, 97% of payment instructions were sent using ISO 20022, and a conversion service will automatically convert remaining MT instructions to ISO 20022 for a period to maintain continuity. With format migration complete, SWIFT said the next phase will focus on extracting value from richer structured data, including through guidance, tools and analytics to help institutions measure, optimise and innovate using ISO 20022 data.
SWIFT 2025-11-25
SWIFT completes global cutover to ISO 20022 for cross-border payments and ends MT coexistence
SWIFT announced the completion of the global transition to ISO 20022 for cross-border payments, ending the coexistence with the MT message format on 22 November. The next phase will focus on leveraging the enriched data from ISO 20022 through guidance, tools, and analytics.