In late 2019, the payments industry was moving along with plans for a smooth transition towards the new ISO 20022 financial messaging standard, which was set to standardise the payment messages used in different systems around the world. The scale and complexity of the migration was daunting, but the path was clear. The opening months of 2020, however, have added major obstacles to progress.
The rise of Covid-19, and the global response to it, has pulled resources away from implementation and into business continuity exercises. Consequently, in March Swift issued new plans for the transition, including a delay in the implementation date for its cross-border payments services in ISO 20022. With all these changes, it is important to take stock and assess how they will affect participants and their plans for the transition.
