With the November 2025 deadline for payments instructions fast approaching, Barclays shares insights from their ISO 20022 migration journey, adopting the ISO 20022 Rulebook for Payment Initiation Relay, and highlight the importance of collaboration.
Making the ISO 20022 transition seamless for clients
There are many technical aspects to adopting ISO 20022. One of them is understanding, at a high-level, the different message types involved. Historically, the MT101 message type was used in interbank communications to relay payments instructions. The benefit was it could allow multi-banked corporates to centralise their payment initiation through a single banking service provider.
However, with the global transition to the new ISO 20022 standard, these interbank messages are being migrated to the pain.001 format on our FINplus service that facilitates the secure and reliable exchange of ISO 20022 messages between financial institutions. Neil Buchan, Global Head of Standards at Swift explains that "ISO 20022 is foundational to the future of payments, and seamless payment initiation is critical to ensure a smoother, more connected financial ecosystem."
Barclays have been proactively transitioning from legacy MT101 messages to ISO 20022 pain.001 messages with a focus on ensuring a smooth transition. “Our overriding principle for us is that when we switch these flows to pain.001 we do so in a way that is seamless for our clients,” says Barry Trowbridge, VP – Digital Banking - Global Transaction Banking, Barclays, who manages ISO 20022 readiness across all of Barclays’ Digital Channels globally. It’s important for banks to create solutions for the corporate client that allow them to continue to centralise their payment initiation.
Adopting the ISO 20022 Rulebook for Payment Initiation Relay
One of the main challenges in the migration is making sure each institution involved is technically ready to send and receive pain.001 messages. Additionally, existing bilateral agreements based on MT messaging also need to be updated or replaced.
“There must be an agreed legal framework in place for the exchange of pain.001 messages,” Barry says. “When these flows switch to pain.001, bilateral agreements are no longer suitable as they are based around MT messaging language and principles.”
To overcome challenges associated with ISO 20022 adoption, Barclays has also been working with us and other institutions to establish a common legal framework. This collaborative effort resulted in the creation of a new Request for Transfer Rulebook, which sets out roles, responsibilities, and liabilities between institutions when operating ISO 20022-based Payment Initiation Relay flows.
“Barclays recently became the first institution to sign up to the new rulebook,” Barry says. “Our motivation for this is very simple—the rulebook facilitates standardisation and efficiency.”
By adopting the rulebook, Barclays aims to eliminate the need to renegotiate all existing bilateral agreements when switching to pain.001 messages, reduce complexity, promote consistency across the industry, and enhance the end-client experience by streamlining processes.
“This is a strong rulebook, which many institutions have been proactively inputting into,” adds Barry. “If other institutions adopt similar positions, this will create future efficiency savings, as there will be no need to enter detailed contractual negotiations when we wish to start exchanging pain.001 messages with new institutions.”
Aligning with strategic objectives and future trends
The adoption of the ISO 20022 Rulebook aligns with Barclays’ strategic objectives of simplification and client-centricity – something that was also at the heart of the community’s decision to make the leap to ISO 20022.
“This very much talks to our simplification agenda and putting clients at the heart of what we do,” Barry says. “The introduction of ISO 20022 and the new rulebook allows us to reduce complexity while also promoting consistency across the industry.”
Looking ahead, Barclays anticipates an acceleration in digital services and interoperability between payment schemes. “In terms of future trends, we need only look at society in general and the adoption of digital services. Whatever the service, we - as consumers - are always demanding faster, better, easier,” Barry observes.
“We can already see this playing out through industry initiatives such as Swift GPI, the drive towards instant payments, and the G20 targets for cross-border payments. All of this is underpinned by the industry migration to ISO 20022, which will further drive interoperability between payment schemes,” he adds.
Leading the way forward
Barclays’ proactive approach to ISO 20022 adoption sets a useful precedent for the community.
By embracing the new standards and collaborating with other institutions, Barclays is not only simplifying its own operations but playing a role in enhancing the overall financial ecosystem.
“Signing up to the new rulebook will reduce the risk of managing individual paper or PDF contracts, as it will be managed centrally by Swift in a digital form,” Barry says. “If all institutions take the same approach, then these benefits become universal across the industry and will ultimately enhance the end-client experience.”
About Barclays
Their vision is to be the UK-centred leader in global finance. They are a diversified bank with comprehensive UK consumer, corporate and wealth and private banking franchises, a leading investment bank and a strong, specialist US consumer bank. Through these five divisions, they are working together for a better financial future for their customers, clients and communities.
For further information about Barclays, please visit their website.
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