ISO 20022: what changes for your payments in November 2026

Who is affected by the ISO 20022 standard?

All businesses that initiate payments (whether domestic, cross-border or in foreign currencies) will be affected. As payment initiators, businesses hold the complete details of their counterparties (such as suppliers and partners) and must therefore adapt their systems to transmit this data in a structured format by 15 November 2026.

The legal obligation to provide full addresses of counterparties in payment instructions remains unchanged; it is only the communication format between financial institutions that is evolving.

The minimum information that must be structured in the payment message is:

• The country code
• The city name

Some countries may require additional structured address elements. BNP Paribas’ online currency guide can be consulted for this purpose. Non-compliant payment instructions will be rejected.

What is the ISO 20022 standard?

ISO 20022 is an international standard that modernises the exchange of financial data by replacing outdated fixed-format SWIFT MT messages with structured XML MX messages. This migration has been gradually adopted since 2019 and continued in 2025 for market infrastructures and interbank networks. The obligation will be extended to businesses by 15 November 2026 at the latest.

From this date onwards, the address information of all payment counterparties (beneficiaries and intermediaries) must be entered in dedicated input fields in a structured or semi-structured format.

Why is the ISO 20022 standard important for my business?

Adopting the ISO 20022 messaging standard, specifically the pain.001 format for payment initiation, offers several key advantages:

• Improved end-to-end automated processing (STP).
• Reduced manual intervention and lower error rates
• Improved data quality and integrity throughout the payment lifecycle
• Simplified compliance with regulatory and control requirements worldwide

Failure to adopt ISO 20022 may lead to disadvantages such as:

• Payment rejection due to missing mandatory information
• Truncated reconciliation data or counterparty information

What are the different deadlines?

Main deadline 

The final deadline is 15 November 2026. From this date onwards, SWIFT and market infrastructures (e.g. TARGET2, CHAPS and EBA STEP2) will reject payments for which the postal address is not structured or semi-structured.

Third-party banking service users

If you use a third-party banking service, make sure that the payment instructions also include the debtor’s structured or semi-structured address by 1 July 2026 to avoid rejection by SWIFT.

Note for users of our digital channels

The screens and input fields in our mobile and online channels will be adapted in time to prevent errors when entering individual payments.

What happens in the event of non-compliance?

Non-compliant messages will be systematically rejected in order to:

• Avoid processing delays
• Prevent additional operational burdens

What actions should I take? 

1. Review your current payment initiation systems and the data formats used, including legacy formats such as “MT101” or proprietary files.
   
   
2. Check and update the addresses currently stored in your databases to convert them into structured addresses, including at least:
• The country code (2-letter ISO format)
• The city name
3. Update all your payment instructions – including future-dated transactions, standing orders and recurring instructions in Connexis – so that they comply with semi-structured or fully structured address formats before 15 November 2026 (value date).
   If you cannot guarantee this compliance, avoid initiating sensitive payments around that date.
   
   
4. From 15 November 2026 onwards (value date), ensure that all postal addresses provided use either the fully structured or hybrid format for:
• The debtor (mandatory for accounts held with third-party banks; BNP Paribas will provide this information if the debited account is held within the BNP Paribas group)
• The beneficiary
• The ultimate debtor/beneficiary (where applicable)
• Intermediary agents in the payment chain, if no BIC code is available
5. Regardless of the format used (structured or semi-structured), you must provide at least:
• A structured city name
• A structured country code (2-letter ISO format) for each party involved in the payment

For which payment types and messages is ISO 20022 used?

On 22 November 2025, all financial institutions successfully completed their transition from SWIFT MT messages to ISO 20022 XML messages for all cross-border payments. Most major domestic market infrastructures (RTGS and CSM systems) had already completed this migration. This affects different payment types, including the most important:

• International payments
• RTGS payments
• SEPA credit transfers
• SEPA instant credit transfers
• SEPA direct debits

Why has this standard been developed?

ISO 20022 addresses many of the limitations of MT messages. It provides well-defined structures that enable the inclusion of more detailed and richer information, thereby strengthening data standardisation and harmonisation. Designed to adapt to new technologies as they emerge, ISO 20022 can also be applied to APIs and other technologies to ensure end-to-end consistency of business processes.

• Compliance improvements: ISO 20022 is better suited to carrying all the stakeholder information (payer and beneficiary) required by regulation. In addition, its enriched data definitions enable more effective anti-money laundering (AML/CFT) and sanctions screening. MT messages do not support fully structured addresses and will struggle to meet future data requirements.
• Industry commitment: by migrating to ISO 20022 for cross-border payments, financial institutions are committing to systematically structuring the data provided for ordering customers and beneficiaries into clearly defined address elements.

Are there differences depending on the country or bank?

Address formatting

For all countries, address formatting requires at least 2 mandatory fields:

1. City: the beneficiary’s locality (city or municipality name)
2. Country: the beneficiary’s country of residence

These 2 pieces of information must be provided in a structured format to ensure correct processing and avoid rejection.

Some countries may impose additional formatting rules or require further details, such as:

• Postal codes
• Province or state names

Always check the specific requirements of the destination country to ensure compliance and avoid processing delays. In addition to the Currency Guide, you will find country-specific rules on swift.com (PMPG Country Guidance section).

Requirements depending on the transaction

Address details are mainly required for international transactions, where the risk of errors or non-compliance with regulations is higher. The beneficiary’s address is:

• Mandatory for certain destinations (e.g. Canada, Saudi Arabia and Singapore).
• Recommended in other cases

Visit the BNP Paribas Cash Management website to consult the list of countries requiring beneficiary address details. This list may be updated as additional countries introduce mandatory requirements.

Practical resources: BNP Paribas Fortis’ online Currency Guide provides guidance on formatting international payment instructions for over 130 currencies.

What will BNP Paribas Fortis verify?

From 15 November 2026 onwards (payment execution date), BNP Paribas Fortis will validate the address format in payment instructions.

Where an address is provided, the bank will verify the presence of the following elements, but not their accuracy:

• The country code
• The city name

Any payment missing either of these 2 elements will automatically be rejected. These validation rules apply to fully and semi-structured address formats. Payments with completely unstructured addresses will be rejected.

Data validation:

• The country code is validated according to the United Nations Alpha-2 standard (two-letter ISO format).
• The city name is not verified; the payment initiator remains responsible for its accuracy.

Please note that generic terms such as 'not provided', 'unknown' or 'N/A' will not automatically result in payment being rejected. However, they may lead to:

• Processing delays
• Additional investigation costs
• Rejection by the beneficiary’s bank

Scope of application

These address format checks apply to all payment types :

• International
• SEPA (credit transfers and direct debits)
• Domestic payments processed via an ISO 20022-compatible market infrastructure

General rule 

Whenever a postal address field is included in a payment instruction – even if optional – the country code and city name must always be provided.

Who can help me with these changes?

In all cases, we strongly recommend that you contact your software provider (whether TMS, ERP or accounting). These providers play a central role in this migration and can help you make the necessary adjustments to your payment tools.

Where can I find more information?

To find out more, consult our detailed newsletter on the ISO 20022 standard.

For more details on the ISO 20022 standard, visit the Febelfin website.

You can also find additional information on the following websites:

• ISO 20022 website: ISO 20022
• Swift.com: PMPG Country Guidance
• EPC website: EPC guidance document