SWIFT announced that the global financial community has completed the migration to ISO 20022 as the standard language for cross-border payments worldwide, ending the coexistence period with the legacy MT message format and making ISO 20022 required for all payment instructions. The final cutover occurred on 22 November after a coexistence period for cross-border payments and reporting (CBPR+) that began in March 2023, following the community’s 2018 decision to adopt ISO 20022. SWIFT reported that 97% of payment instructions observed on 24 November were sent using ISO 20022 and said a conversion service will automatically convert remaining MT instructions to ISO 20022 for a period to ensure continuity of payment flows. The release highlights ISO 20022’s richer, structured data as supporting faster and more efficient payments, strengthening compliance-related risk and control capabilities, and underpinning initiatives including a retail payments scheme aimed at consistently fast and transparent outcomes and a blockchain-based shared ledger for tokenised value. SWIFT said the focus now shifts from format readiness to using structured data, with continued community support through guidance, tools and analytics to help institutions measure, optimise and innovate using ISO 20022 data.
SWIFT 2025-11-25
SWIFT confirms global cutover to ISO 20022 makes the standard mandatory for cross-border payment instructions
SWIFT announced the completion of the global migration to ISO 20022 as the standard for cross-border payments, ending the coexistence with the legacy MT format. As of 24 November, 97% of payment instructions used ISO 20022, with a conversion service in place for remaining MT instructions to ensure continuity.