Payments standards changes for 2020

Payment data quality is a major concern in the financial services industry.
Financial institutions must know who they are engaging with and ensure that all transactions comply with an increasing body of regulations. Banks are the first line of defense against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) recommendation 16 requires full name and address details to be specified for the customer (payer) and beneficiary (payee) for all wire transfers. Legislation in major jurisdictions requires that this data be screened against published lists of sanctioned entities.

FATF 16 - A serious business issue with real consequences
The SWIFT community is committed to implementing a more structured approach to payment data. The Standards MT Release 2020 will remove free-format message field options for fields 50 and 59 from MT103 and related messages to ensure that payer and beneficiary data are systematically captured and exchanged in a structured format. In the longer term, this structured approach will simplify compliance and boost confidence. But in the short term much work is required to prepare for the change. Read more