ISO® 20022 has been a buzz term in the payments space for quite some time; however, as we near the latest (and hopefully last) live date of July 14, 2025, bankers are working hard to fine-tune their preparations. If you are just now joining the ISO® 20022 conversation, don’t panic! This is the Federal Reserve’s adoption of a new message format for the Fedwire Funds Service. The current FAIM format is being replaced by the ISO® 20022 message format domestically effective July 14, 2025, globally effective November 2025. Note: International wires will convert to this format as well in November 2025. I am going to breakdown the conversion and share several resources to have you and your team ready for go live. What is ISO20022? ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization, and the new format can be described as a single standardization approach that will be utilized by all financial standards initiatives. The goal behind this adoption is to provide consistent and structured data for every type of financial transaction. This should lead to easier processing and less need for manual intervention. Note: Both FedNow and RTP transactions use this message format. What does this mean for you? Wire Transfers just got more complicated. The new format accommodates all new addenda fields. Staff training is important for everyone to become familiar with the new format and terminology to better understand the new options. Since this is a global wire format conversion, any ancillary wire products/vendors must be prepared to support this format. Check with any OFAC, warehousing, or reconcilement vendor your bank may use to ensure compliance. Due to the complete overhaul of the wire format, existing templates must be recreated in the ISO® 20022 format. For FNBB wire customers, NetLink users can currently create new templates in the ISO® 20022 format. If you have any questions regarding templates or would like to have our Client Services team review the templates that you have created, we are more than happy to do so. What is FNBB doing to prepare? As of April 16, 2024, FNBB became the first bankers bank to certify for compliance to the ISO® 20022 messaging standards for Fedwire. Established ISO® 20022 team consisting of developers, operations staff, and client services specialists that meet on a weekly basis to work through aspects of the conversion project Completed extensive NetLink Development to existing domestic wire fields and screens to accommodate new standards Developed in-depth training materials to include quick reference guides, webinars, glossaries, template mapping guides, and training videos For any FNBB customer that does not currently send/receive wires through NetLink, we are here and able to assist you too! Our team is well-versed on all aspects of ISO and can assist you and your teams in your preparations, including file upload/download testing. There are several ISO® 20022 resources within the documents section of NetLink including training videos, mapping documents, and a glossary. These resources are also available at bankers-bank.com. Note: the video links will take you to our private YouTube page for viewing. At the end of the day, we are in this together! This is a global conversion that impacts every financial institution with wire access. If you have any questions, want a second set of eyes on your templates, or want to test files, FNBB is here for you! I hope that you are able to put our tools to work and that they make this conversion that much easier for you and your team. Happy learning! The views expressed in this blog are for informational purposes. All information shared should be independently evaluated as to its applicability or efficacy. FNBB does not endorse, recommend or promote any specific service or company that may be named or implied in any blog post.