The Transformative Potential of ISO 20022 for Corporates

By Mark O’Toole, Head of Sales & Partnerships – Americas, Fides

As an open, global standard, ISO 20022 promises enriched payment data to enable streamlined treasury processes, risk mitigation, cost reduction and innovation worldwide. For corporates, ISO 20022 will bring significant benefits — but adoption requires some planning and implementation knowhow.

While the original November 2025 deadline for financial institutions to adopt the ISO 20022

standard has been loosened, change is still ahead. The MT channel will continue to be available for payments for an undetermined period of time, although certain categories of MT messages will be no longer be supported for cross-border payments between financial institutions.

However, the costs will gradually increase — making it a financial imperative for banks and

corporates using Swift MT messaging to switch to the new MX format. Adoption of ISO 20022 will also allow corporates using Swift SCORE to leverage the format’s rich data to simplify and improve end-to-end payment flows.

ISO 20022 creates a wealth of benefits for corporates, including:

? Improved payment processing efficiency

? Granting full transparency to a corporation’s cash flow and reducing the need for

multiple format maintenance

? Unlocking the potential for centralization and automatization of the company’s

workflows and processes

? Enhanced data quality and analytics

? Better regulatory compliance and reporting

? Increased interoperability with global financial networks

However, the initial costs of ISO 20022 migration can be high and implementation and

integration of the standard can be complex, creating a barrier to adoption of the standard.

Some organizations are concerned about security, privacy, and governance. As is needed with the rollout of any new technology, testing, staff training and change management is required to avoid operational disruption. Coordination with individual banks — as each will have its own migration roadmap — as well as vendors and partners may also come into play, particularly if you are using a TMS or ERP system and have connectivity directly with your banks or via an intermediary. In short, it’s not simple. That’s why it’s important to start planning now.

Knowing the steps to take to prepare for migration will put you on the path to ensuring your

financial operations are ready for the future. To get started, I recommend creating a checklist, with questions including:

? How will the project be planned and coordinated?

? Who will need to be involved — both internally and externally?

? What payments and reporting data will be impacted by the Swift migration from FIN to

FINplus? Which of your banks will you need to work with, and how are they preparing

for ISO 20022? What other vendors need to be in the loop?

? What is your implementation timeline?

? What is the effect on the quality of your existing data?

This checklist will help you determine how to approach ISO 20022 adoption in the way that

works best for your organization and all your key stakeholders.

At AFP 2024, I’ll be moderating a panel discussion on ISO 20022 alongside two highly

experienced practitioners, Alessandra Peter, Senior Treasury Manager at Autoneum

Management AG, and Russell Hoffman, Director of Treasury at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield,

who also has extensive experience as a professional services consultant at firms including PwC and KPMG. The three of us will discuss the hows, whys, and wherefores of ISO 20022, including the challenges, benefits corporates will realize from adoption, and a checklist for successful migration. Alessandra will also share her first-hand experience with implementing ISO 20022 in Autoneum’s complex treasury environment.

I hope you’ll join us to hear about the new opportunities ISO 20022 will unlock, along with

strategies for successful migration to the new industry payments standard.

AFP Nashville, Monday Oct 21st 10.30am Location: Grand Ballroom A1, Nashville Convention Center