By Dirk Cavens - Chief Operating Officer
ISO 20022 has been debated and dissected by people in the payments industry for a long while, yet the real shift that we’re seeing now is how tangible its potential has become. With its flexible, data-rich model, adopting the standard is no longer just about improving cross-border payment processing but about making exchanges between institutions from payment initiation to crediting the ultimate beneficiary far more structured and viable. It’s an unmistakable direction of travel that is and will continue to see markets pushing toward greater transparency, speed and direct interaction for global payments.
Such is the state of play that it is understandable that regulators remain cautious, although the rich quantity of data that ISO 20022 supports could help address these concerns if fully exploited. When properly harnessed, the data could provide the oversight, auditability and risk management needed to keep pace with more accessible, flexible, secure and efficient payment models.
Not only does this evolving landscape open opportunities for established institutions, but also the opportunity for new entrants to provide services that sit on top of, or extend, ISO 20022 compatible models. Whether in compliance, analytics or new transaction layers, the global settlement and payments space is becoming a lively arena for innovation and competition.
The final push to November 2025
The 2025 deadline has been on banks’ minds for years – some making the move to the new standard earlier than others. Migrating to ISO 20022 has not been a simple task. The large banks who traditionally provided the backbone to international payments are deeply embedded in legacy infrastructures, wary of transformation for fear of major disruption. Now, the weight of legacy systems are being felt by banks across the world.
The standard allows for richer data formats and includes more information in messages. ISO 20022 introduces structured fields that are validated according to specific rules. This improves speed and accuracy during transaction processing, as systems know exactly where to find key data. Also, structured compliance information can now travel with the payment, drastically reducing the need for manual intervention and creating the conditions to move towards the new era of cross-border payments.
With standardised fields and predictable formats, ISO 20022 enables settlement to be become faster, more transparent and executed with a certainty of outcome. It is this capability in which PSPs and other relatively new players – those not weighed down by legacy systems - in the market can now leverage to more nimbly exploit the benefits of ISO 20022.
Take a chance on change
In different geographies and jurisdictions, implementation treatments of this standard, each with their own nuances, have already emerged. This leaves room for a private sector initiative to bridge these differences. FinTech companies are stepping in to help organisations optimise, while card providers like Visa and Mastercard are developing services that leverage the richer data formats.
RTGS.global is also leading from the front, building a common platform to achieve fully transparent liquidity flows, optimising liquidity velocity whilst vastly reducing the complexity of the end-to-end reconciliation of cross-border payments.
RTGS.global has built a platform for interconnectivity between institutions that sit outside the traditional SWIFT framework. It is a cloud-native messaging service that has been developed fully compatible with ISO 20022 standards, enabling instant cross-border movement of funds and removing the need for multiple intermediaries - thereby cutting transaction time and fees.
“The arrival of ISO 20022 allowed RTGS.global to create market-ready functionality that is instantly recognisable and can be seamlessly adopted,” says Marcus Treacher, Executive Chairman at RTGS.global “Our SaaS proposition offering smart interconnectivity and interoperability between bank and non-bank financial institutions is ISO 20022-native by design. Deploying common and consistent language reduces ambiguity while fostering trust between all stakeholders across our global network.”
The global push toward ISO 20022 is now a key enabler of interoperability between next-generation settlement platforms. This aligns perfectly with RTGS.global’s mission. We want to deliver faster, safer and more transparent cross-border settlement for global financial institutions.
ISO 20022 has been debated and dissected by people in the payments industry for a long while, yet the real shift that we’re seeing now is how tangible its potential has become. With its flexible, data-rich model, adopting the standard is no longer just about improving cross-border payment processing but about making exchanges between institutions from payment initiation to crediting the ultimate beneficiary far more structured and viable. It’s an unmistakable direction of travel that is and will continue to see markets pushing toward greater transparency, speed and direct interaction for global payments.
Such is the state of play that it is understandable that regulators remain cautious, although the rich quantity of data that ISO 20022 supports could help address these concerns if fully exploited. When properly harnessed, the data could provide the oversight, auditability and risk management needed to keep pace with more accessible, flexible, secure and efficient payment models.
Not only does this evolving landscape open opportunities for established institutions, but also the opportunity for new entrants to provide services that sit on top of, or extend, ISO 20022 compatible models. Whether in compliance, analytics or new transaction layers, the global settlement and payments space is becoming a lively arena for innovation and competition.
The final push to November 2025
The 2025 deadline has been on banks’ minds for years – some making the move to the new standard earlier than others. Migrating to ISO 20022 has not been a simple task. The large banks who traditionally provided the backbone to international payments are deeply embedded in legacy infrastructures, wary of transformation for fear of major disruption. Now, the weight of legacy systems are being felt by banks across the world.
The standard allows for richer data formats and includes more information in messages. ISO 20022 introduces structured fields that are validated according to specific rules. This improves speed and accuracy during transaction processing, as systems know exactly where to find key data. Also, structured compliance information can now travel with the payment, drastically reducing the need for manual intervention and creating the conditions to move towards the new era of cross-border payments.
With standardised fields and predictable formats, ISO 20022 enables settlement to be become faster, more transparent and executed with a certainty of outcome. It is this capability in which PSPs and other relatively new players – those not weighed down by legacy systems - in the market can now leverage to more nimbly exploit the benefits of ISO 20022.
Take a chance on change
In different geographies and jurisdictions, implementation treatments of this standard, each with their own nuances, have already emerged. This leaves room for a private sector initiative to bridge these differences. FinTech companies are stepping in to help organisations optimise, while card providers like Visa and Mastercard are developing services that leverage the richer data formats.
RTGS.global is also leading from the front, building a common platform to achieve fully transparent liquidity flows, optimising liquidity velocity whilst vastly reducing the complexity of the end-to-end reconciliation of cross-border payments.
RTGS.global has built a platform for interconnectivity between institutions that sit outside the traditional SWIFT framework. It is a cloud-native messaging service that has been developed fully compatible with ISO 20022 standards, enabling instant cross-border movement of funds and removing the need for multiple intermediaries - thereby cutting transaction time and fees.
“The arrival of ISO 20022 allowed RTGS.global to create market-ready functionality that is instantly recognisable and can be seamlessly adopted,” says Marcus Treacher, Executive Chairman at RTGS.global “Our SaaS proposition offering smart interconnectivity and interoperability between bank and non-bank financial institutions is ISO 20022-native by design. Deploying common and consistent language reduces ambiguity while fostering trust between all stakeholders across our global network.”
The global push toward ISO 20022 is now a key enabler of interoperability between next-generation settlement platforms. This aligns perfectly with RTGS.global’s mission. We want to deliver faster, safer and more transparent cross-border settlement for global financial institutions.
