ISO 20022 Industry Migration

Leading the industry

In March 2023, led by AusPayNet, the High Value Clearing System (HVCS) successfully adopted the ISO 20022 message standard. 

Since commencing with a consultation process facilitated by the Reserve Bank of Australia in 2019, this once-in-a-generation transformation has involved extensive collaboration between 50 HVCS participant financial institutions in building, testing and implementing the new messaging standard in Australia.

With ISO 20022 payment messages able to carry richer, more enhanced and structured data, the migration means significant improvements to process-automation, interoperability and corporate customer experience in Australian payments.

The new messaging standard allows for more structured remittance information and identification of parties in the payments chain, aiding know-your-customer, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing efforts, and sanctions-screening. 

Migration to the ISO 20022 message standard enables financial institutions to create seamless experiences for corporate customers and ultimately deliver faster, cheaper, transparent and more accessible payments.

A period of coexistence of using the HVCS's MT messages and the new ISO 20022 standard has now commenced, with the expectation that the old standard will be phased out by November 2024 for domestic payments, and by November 2025 for cross-border payments.

An overview of the key milestones is set out below.

Resources

We have several resources available to those interested:

• Find out more about the benefits of ISO 20022 in our ‘Benefits and Rationale’ blog below.
• Read about key topics relating to the adoption of ISO 20022 in the High Value Clearing System on our ISO 20022 Insights page.
• For more detail on the progress of the ISO 20022 Industry Migration Program, read the Migration Monitor each quarter.
• Refer to our Migration Services Marketplace for more information on vendors and service providers related to the ISO 20022 Industry Migration Program.

Benefits and Rationale ISO 20022 Insights Migration Monitor Migration Services Marketplace