Indian Banks Urged to Expedite ISO 20022 Adoption for Cross-Border Payments

The Indian Banks' Association has urged all banks to quickly adopt the SWIFT ISO 20022 standards for cross-border payments. This initiative aims to enhance payment processing and mitigate potential risks related to message rejections and operational issues. The transition period ends in November 2025.

Devdiscourse News Desk | New Delhi | Updated: 20-07-2025 13:41 IST | Created: 20-07-2025 13:41 IST

Indian Banks Urged to Expedite ISO 20022 Adoption for Cross-Border Payments — This image is AI-generated and does not depict any real-life event or location. It is a fictional representation created for illustrative purposes only.

Country:
India

The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) has called for swift action from all banks to implement SWIFT ISO 20022 norms for cross-border payments. This pressing request comes as the association warns of potential operational risks and message rejections if migration is delayed.

In a recent communication, IBA Chief Executive Atul Kumar Goel emphasized the importance of starting the migration by August 2025 to allow for adequate monitoring of ISO 20222 transaction volumes. ISO 20022 is a global financial messaging standard being adopted by SWIFT to improve efficiency, reconciliation, and interoperability in payment systems worldwide.

While a few Indian banks have already made significant progress, most banks are still aligning with the global migration deadline of November 2025. Goel highlighted concerns over technical risks, such as message rejections and reduced readiness for exception handling, should banks fail to meet the deadline. The shift from legacy MT systems to ISO 20022 is expected to end coexistence by November 22, 2025.

(With inputs from agencies.)