A Bank of England-led consultation on adoption of ISO 20022 has found widespread backing for the introduction of a Common Credit Message (CCM), which aims to harmonise messaging
across the UK’s main interbank payment systems.
ISO 20022 - which will not be rolled out for several years - will enrich the data carried in payments messages, improve compatibility across technology platforms and create opportunities for collaboration and innovation.
The six week consultation, run by the central bank, along with Pay.UK and the Payment System Regulator (PSR), received more than 70 responses from banks, fintechs, corporates, and trade associations.
The BofE and NPSO have already been preparing for the switch, designing a CCM - a standard message to be used across all three systems - Chaps, Faster Payments and Bacs - that will also be compatible with the overseas payment systems that are adopting ISO 20022.
The overhaul is being enabled by the central bank's new Real Time Gross Settlement for Chaps payments, and the creation of a New Payments Architecture (NPA) for Bacs and Faster Payments.
The consultation found wide support for how the CCM will be introduced for Chaps payments, including when additional data such as the use of Legal Entity Identifiers for transactions between financial institutions, will become mandatory.
Victoria Cleland, executive director, banking, payments and financial resilience, BofE, says: "We were delighted with the breadth of responses from the payments industry, which has helped us to refine and enhance our approach for adopting ISO 20022."
Read the full consultation response paper:
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