Technical resources for the migration to ISO 20022

Updated approach and timetable to ISO 20022 migration

In January 2022, the Bank issued an updated approach for the delivery of the revised RTGS service (for further details visit the RTGS Renewal Programme webpage). This includes an updated timetable for the migration of RTGS services to ISO 20022, including CHAPS payments, (deferred) net settlement services, and settlement/reserves account services.

This page and the main ISO 20022 page provide an overview of the Bank’s current and final approach to ISO 20022 migration and details the changes that have been made.

For a summary of the changes and details on how it will impact your organisation please see the 'Summary of changes to the Bank’s ISO 20022 migration announced January 2022' webpage.

Is your organisation ready for ISO 20022?

The migration to using the ISO 20022 messaging standard for UK payments is well underway. CHAPS payments will migrate to ISO 20022 messaging in April 2023. Messages related to other RTGS services will migrate in spring 2024. The Bank will start to require use of additional data in certain specific CHAPS payments from summer 2024, and will require use of structured addresses and remittance data from November 2025. If you haven’t already, you will need to get your organisation ready now.

CHAPS ISO 20022 Messages

Note: the CHAPS migration to ISO 20022 has been updated in January 2022. Please visit the ISO 20022 webpage for further details.

Enhanced message schemas (version 1.2.0), Technical Guidance and Change Log are available on the SWIFT MyStandards portal. MyStandards is a global repository for standards operated by SWIFT. Users must first register for a free account with SWIFT and then request to join the Bank of England’s ISO 20022 community. MyStandards can be found on the SWIFT website. These are also published on Pay.UK’s Standards Source platform.

Mitigating risk of data truncation in CHAPS messages for a limited time period

On 4 March 2022, the Bank has published a revised Truncation Risk Remedial Framework, including a revised Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between CHAPS Direct Participants alongside Whitelabel Communications and Technical Guidance documents. The revisions reflect the Bank’s updated timetable and approach to its ISO 20022 migration. These documents have been developed by CHAPS Direct Participants and aim to mitigate the limited risk of data truncation in CHAPS that will occur between November 2022 and April 2023.

The global transition to the ISO 20022 in payments will entail a short period of time during which GBP-denominated customer payment messages containing enhanced data may be subject to data truncation when transmitted via CHAPS. This is because there is a period that the SWIFT correspondent banking network will enable enhanced and additional data before the CHAPS system is able to carry this data. The MOU sets out two protocols that all signatories agree to follow: 

• To actively request customers and or correspondent banking relationships not to send enhanced data until April 2023 for payments that result in sterling GBP settlement.
• To follow the Technical Guidance, which sets out how to handle enhanced data should it be received as a sending CHAPS DP.

Migration approach of non-payment messages to the ISO 20022 standard

The Bank has published its migration approach of non-payment messages to the ISO 20022 messaging standard for CHAPS Direct Participants.

The document linked below provides further detail and supporting information about the approach of non-payment messages to the ISO 20022 messaging standard.

The migration of non-payment messages (e.g. statement messages MT950/camt.053) will now take place as follows:

• Direct Participants that opted to migrate to these messages to ISO 20022 when CHAPS transitions from MT to ISO will now see these messages migrate in April 2023, rather than June 2022.
• Direct Participants that opted to migrate to these messages to ISO 20022 when the new core ledger goes live will now see these messages migrate in spring 2024 (new TS3 go-live date), rather than late 2023. 
• Direct Participants who requested to migrate non-payment messages in June 2022 will now need to be ready to migrate April 2023.
• Migration approach of non-payment messages to the ISO 20022 messaging standard (pdf)

Euro Liquidity Bridge – Change for CHAPS Direct Participants ahead of ISO 20022 migration

As operator of CHAPS the Bank offers and operates a ‘Euro Liquidity Bridge’ which allows CHAPS Direct Participants (DPs) to use Euro cash sent to the Bank via TARGET2 as collateral to raise intraday Sterling liquidity in RTGS.

As part of the European Central Bank, Eurosystem T2-T2S consolidation project, TARGET2 payments will migrate to ISO 20022 on 21 November 2022. Prior to this, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) is also launching a new Payments Hub to replace customer accounts currently held on the Home Accounting Module (HAM) the TARGET2. For an interim period between November 2022 and spring 2024, the current RTGS system will unable to process ISO 20022 format messages from DNB.

Following a review of the current facilities and discussions with frequent users, we have developed a solution to continue operating the Euro Liquidity Bridge without causing excessive impact or costs to either the Bank or DPs. The required changes and solution for DPs is detailed in the 'Euro Liquidity Bridge – changes for CHAPS Direct Participants ahead of ISO 20022' migration statement.

Market Guidance

The Bank’s approach to working with industry to develop ISO 20022 Market Guidance was outlined in its Policy Statement (first published in late 2020 updated in January 2022).

On 14 April 2021, the Bank published the first in a series of Market Guides: Implementing ISO 20022 messaging in CHAPS covering property payments. On 3 February 2022, the Bank then published the second Market Guides: Implementing for the corporate market sector. These guidance documents have been commissioned independently on-behalf of the Bank, based on engagements with industry.  The Bank will continue working with industry stakeholders to define market best practice guidance for implementing the ISO 20022 messaging standard in order to realise the benefits of the enhanced data.

MyStandards Readiness Portal

The SWIFT MyStandards Readiness Portal is available to help you to start testing your CHAPS payment messages against the published schemas. 

We encourage all CHAPS direct participants to use the portal to prepare for the CHAPS ISO 20022 migration. 

We will monitor usage to keep informed of how ready the industry is for migration.

What can I use the portal for?

The portal will validate CHAPS ISO 20022 messages to ensure they comply with the schemas and the format meets mandatory requirements for a payment message to settle in RTGS. 

It will also enable you to validate examples of the cash management and administration messages that CHAPS direct participants will receive from RTGS. This will enable them to prepare their systems to process them. 

It links with the SWIFT MyStandards documents, not the Standards Source documentation.

How do I gain access to it?

To get access, you:

1. Register for a swift.com account for MyStandards.
2. Request access to the Bank of England ISO 20022 (external users) community. We will process your request within 48 hours.
3. Email rtgsreadiness@bankofengland.co.uk to request a copy of the ‘Readiness Portal – Community Access Agreement’. Include a brief explanation of why you want to use the portal. The agreement should be signed on behalf of your organisation and returned to the same address.
4. Use the form below to list people who are authorised to access the portal on behalf of your organisation. Return it to: rtgsreadiness@bankofengland.co.uk.

• List of users who are authorised to access the Readiness Portal (PDF) 

How do I use the portal?

You can use portal in any way that supports your development of your CHAPS ISO 20022 messages.

How long will the portal be available?

The portal will be available throughout the RTGS Renewal Programme. 

How to contact us

For enquires of a technical nature please contact rtgsreadiness@bankofengland.co.uk.

For all general enquires, speaker engagements and communication please contact rtgsengagement@bankofengland.co.uk.