ISO 20022 is the authoritative global standard for financial messaging, designed to regulate the electronic exchange of data between financial institutions. As more countries look to adopt the standard to enable faster payments, improve customer experience and facilitate automation, information The Bank of England has revealed that its payments system has been successfully upgraded to the ISO 20022 standard.
as. .and be known Clearinghouse Automated Payment System (CHAPS), which is considered one of the largest high value payment systems in the world, providing risk-free, simplified and irrevocable settlement payments. The Bank of England assumed responsibility for the CHAPS system in November 2017. The system is also used to settle an average of £395bn per day by 2022.
Some of the main functions of CHAPS include facilitating money market settlement and foreign exchange transactions for some of the largest financial institutions and businesses in the UK. Companies also use CHAPS to issue time-sensitive high-value payments to suppliers and to pay taxes. Consumers can even use CHAPS to purchase high-ticket items, such as cars.
The Bank of England’s successful migration to ISO 20022 reveals a significant achievement in its multi-year plan to renew its Real Time Gross Settlement Service (RTGS). The goals of the plan include increasing resilience, innovation, and competition in the current payments landscape.
in a prepared statementVictoria Cleland, executive director of payments at the Bank of England, noted:
“The launch of the ISO 20022 financial messaging standard marks an important milestone in our mission to enhance RTGS and CHAPS services: the critical infrastructure at the heart of the financial system. In an increasingly global payments world, harmonization of messaging through ISO 20022 will enable More systems are able to speak the same language and ultimately enhance cross-border payments. Moving to ISO 20022 is a key element of the Bank’s RTGS update plan and fulfills one of our commitments to the FSB roadmap for enhancing cross-border payments.”
game before deadline
While many organizations and financial institutions see many benefits in adopting ISO 20022, figures show they are actually falling behind as the November 2025 deadline looms.
Recent data found that only 72% of the 11,000 global banks that belong to the SWIFT network are ready to fully migrate by the deadline.
One of the biggest hurdles most banks and organizations have to overcome is upgrading their current payment systems. This is especially true if they are still running under outdated legacy systems.
