On 1 March 2023, the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) published a consultive report on the ISO 20022 harmonisation requirements for enhancing cross-border payments.

This consultive report presents the CPMI’s proposed requirements for harmonised use of ISO 20022 for cross-border payments. The proposed requirements are the result of earlier discussions by a joint task force established by the CPMI and the global industry Payments Market Practice Group and CPMI’s survey of payment system operators’ ISO 20022 adoption plans, conducted in late 2021.

The consultive report discusses the proposed harmonisation requirements and their objective, the set of guiding principles that have informed the discussion of the joint task force to date and the major components of the requirements (the core message set, general requirements and the data model). It also provides a proposed implementation plan for the CPMI harmonisation requirements.

Following the consultation period and expected finalisation of these requirements in mid-2023, the CPMI proposes that payment system operators and participants begin preparations to align their ISO 20022 usage guidelines with the finalised CPMI requirements to be effective in November 2025.

For the Indian G20 Presidency, the ISO 20022 harmonisation requirements are a key deliverable under the G20 cross-border payments programme.

The deadline for comments to the consultive report is 10 May 2023.