On 24 October 2023, the Wolfsberg Group published updated Payment Transparency Standards, which replace the 2017 standards to reflect changes in payment methods, infrastructure and landscape.

The updated standards are intended to:

• Broaden coverage from financial institutions to all types of payment service providers and use the ISO 20022 terms.
• Expand the list of stakeholders to include payment market infrastructures and competent authorities.
• Affirm that all payments should be treated equally regardless of the type of entity processing them and that the entity initiating the payment flow should have the primary obligation to ensure transparency.
• Address the fact that certain intermediaries in the payment flow, by nature of the limited information they see in the normal course of business, should not be held accountable for the transparency and compliance obligations of the entity initiating the flow.
• Provide illustrated examples of real-world payment chains highlighting their inherent transparency challenges.