What is ISO 20022?

ISO 20022 is a global payment messaging standard that allows businesses, financial institutions, and all other parties involved in a financial transaction to exchange, interpret, and automatically process payment information. By providing a common global language for corporate accounting and banking systems, ISO 20022 resolves two key challenges in facilitating automated processing of electronic payment messages between two systems. First, it creates a common global vocabulary for sending electronic payment information. Second, it creates a consistent structure or format used to convey information, including an easy way to identify all information within a message.

(Source: The Federal Reserve and Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis)

Implementation Date

The Federal Reserve’s implementation date is set for July 14, 2025. This means that on Friday July 11, 2025, at 7pm ET the current Fedwire® Funds Service FAIM wire format will end and when the Federal Reserve opens Sunday July 13, 2025 at 9pm ET (business date July 14, 2025) the new ISO® 20022 format supersedes. Any wires in the FAIM format will be rejected by the Federal Reserve. This implementation will bring changes to current wire terminology, requirements, wire types and fields.

ACBB completed ISO 20022 certification with the Federal Reserve Bank in April 2024 and has continued to test internally and externally with other financial institutions since that time.

WE’RE READY………ARE YOU?

If you use ACBB as your wire transfer service provider, here are some important questions you should be thinking about:

• Have you created your ISO 20022 templates in ACBBapex? Any existing FAIM-formatted templates will not be converted to the ISO 20022 format. The ability to create templates has been available since December 3, 2024. Please view our training videos on the ACBBapex portal for instructions.
• Has your staff been testing processing wires in the ACBBapex client test environment? Our test environment has been available to users since January 31, 2025. If you need assistance in accessing and utilizing the test environment please contact ACBB Client Care.
• Has your staff tested importing/exporting ISO formatted wire files in the ACBBapex client test environment? ACBBapex will no longer be supporting the current FAIM file format as of the Federal Reserve’s implementation date. Third-party vendors must be able to support the ISO 20022 wire format.
• Are you aware of the notices, training videos and materials located in ACBBapex Resource section that are available to assist you in navigating the process? The General Information section of the ACBBapex client portal Resource page contains training videos and resources to help your staff understand the upcoming changes.
• Have you considered your staffing needs for the ISO 20022 implementation weekend? Depending on your wire ecosystem, staffing needs and availability may need to be increased.

Financial institutions utilizing other solutions for transmitting wire transfers can take advantage of establishing a contingency plan with ACBB, but this must be completed in advance of July 14, 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact us at clientcare@acbb.com or 1-800-822-2137.

Below are some additional Federal Reserve Bank resources that may be helpful as you prepare for July 14^th:

• Federal Reserve Bank Webinars
• Federal Reserve Bank ISO 20022 Implementation Center
• Federal Reserve Bank ISO 20022 Preparedness Checklist
• Federal Reserve Bank ISO 20022 Frequently Asked Questions