SEPA Migration to ISO 20022 Postponed to March 2024

The migration of Sepa Credit Transfer, Sepa Instant Credit Transfer, Sepa Direct Debit Core, and SDD Business-to-Business to ISO 20022, which was originally planned for November, has been postponed to March 2024, reports PaySpace. The European Payments Council (EPC) made this decision, citing the need for further readiness assessment among participants in the SEPA payment schemes.

After a comprehensive analysis of the preparedness of SEPA payment scheme participants, including self-declared SEPA payment scheme-compliant Clearing and Settlement Mechanisms (CSMs), it became evident that two major participating countries were not yet ready to implement the new messaging standard for SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT), SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst), SEPA Direct Debit Core (SDD Core), and SDD Business-to-Business (SDD B2B) schemes. These countries requested additional testing and experienced operational delays.

In light of these challenges and in the interest of maintaining the safety and integrity of cross-border SEPA payments, the EPC decided to delay the overall migration process. Until the new date in March, the 2021 SEPA payment scheme rulebooks and associated implementation guidelines (IGs) will continue to be in effect.

Giorgio Andreoli, Director General of the European Payments Council, emphasized the importance of ensuring the reachability, stability, and integrity of the SEPA payment schemes and assured payment service providers (PSPs) and stakeholders that every possible measure will be taken to ensure the success of the migration on the newly proposed date.

ISO 20022 is an International Standard developed by ISO Technical Committee TC68 Financial Services. It serves as a universal platform for creating financial messages in various financial business areas and transaction types. The standard's primary goal is to enable interoperability in communication between financial institutions, market infrastructures, and end-user communities. ISO 20022 standardizes common data objects used by different financial entities and organizes them into syntax-neutral message models that can be transformed into various message formats as needed. This approach supports the coexistence of diverse payment systems and paves the way for eventual convergence into a single universal standard for the payment industry.