The Federal Reserve is seeking public feedback on a proposal to adopt the International Organization for Standardization’s 20022 message format for its Fedwire Funds Service, replacing its current proprietary format. ISO 20022 is a widely used standard that has already been adopted by a number of foreign wire transfer systems.
Transitioning to the new format would help to improve the efficiency of domestic and cross-border payments between the Fedwire Funds Service and other messaging systems, and could help enhance current anti-money laundering efforts. In 2015, the Federal Reserve recommended transitioning to ISO 20022 as part of a broader strategy for improving the payments system. As proposed, the migration would take place in three phases between 2020 and 2023. The Fed will accept comments on the proposal for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.