The Bank for International Settlements' Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) has published a staff brief setting out practical considerations for migrating payment messaging to ISO 20022, focusing on how harmonised implementation can reduce cross-border payment frictions by enabling structured data, reducing message truncation and improving straight-through processing, compliance checks and fraud prevention. The brief frames migration as a three-stage process covering pre-migration (stakeholder engagement and system readiness), migration (cutovers, balance reconciliation and participant activation) and post-migration (stability monitoring, governance and change management). It contrasts big bang and phased approaches and draws on experiences from jurisdictions including Kenya, Malaysia and South Africa, alongside detailed technical topics such as XML-based message standards, legacy-to-ISO data mapping and enrichment, validation, cybersecurity controls, testing and operational monitoring during cutover and hyper-care. In the context of the G20 cross-border payments programme, the brief also situates these lessons alongside CPMI’s ISO 20022 harmonisation work, including its 12 harmonisation requirements and supporting data models, an ambition to achieve voluntary alignment by the end of 2027, and plans to maintain the requirements at least until the end of 2027 with ongoing maintenance supported by a joint panel drawn from ISO 20022 global market practice groups.
Bank for International Settlements - Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures 2026-04-20
Bank for International Settlements' Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures publishes brief on managing the ISO 20022 migration journey
The Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures has published a staff brief on practical considerations for migrating payment messaging to ISO 20022, highlighting how harmonised implementation can reduce cross-border payment frictions through structured data, reduced message truncation and improved processing, compliance and fraud controls. The brief outlines a three-stage migration process, compares big bang and phased approaches with examples from several jurisdictions, and situates these lessons within the G20 cross-border payments programme and the Committee’s 12 ISO 20022 harmonisation requirements.