ISO 20022 payment standards continue to evolve to improve the quality and reliability of exchanges between financial institutions. A new requirement will come into effect in November 2026 and may impact the payment files used by businesses.
What is changing?
From November 2026, payment schemes will no longer accept fully unstructured addresses (free-text only) in payment instructions using the ISO 20022 format.
This change applies in particular to:
- SEPA payments
- Cross-border payments
- RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement) payments
What are the new requirements?
Whenever an address is included in a payment instruction, it must now be provided in either a structured or hybrid format.
At a minimum, the address must include:
- The country code (ISO format)
- The city or locality
- This requirement applies across all payment channels and formats, including ISO 20022 XML files, MT messages, banking portals, and any format conversions performed by financial institutions.
Apsal is already compliant
Good news: Apsal is already fully compatible with this latest ISO 20022 requirement.
The solution supports both structured and hybrid address formats required by financial institutions, enabling you to prepare for this regulatory change with confidence.
However, we recommend reviewing the quality of the address data stored in your master data and business records to ensure a smooth transition ahead of the November 2026 deadline.
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