Media Release ISO 20022 Migration for the Australian Payments System – Conclusions Paper

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the Australian Payments Council (APC) today released the ISO 20022 Migration for the Australian Payments System – Conclusions Paper. This is the final paper in a series of three papers aimed at assisting the industry to come to an agreement on key strategic issues regarding the adoption of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 20022 messaging standards.

The Issues Paper was published in April 2019 and sought views on the migration of messaging used in some parts of the Australian payments system to the ISO 20022 messaging standard. The Responses and Options Paper was published in September 2019 and provided a summary of the responses received to the Issues Paper and put forward some potential implementation options for feedback.

The RBA and APC received 18 submissions to the Responses and Options Paper. The respondents were from a diverse range of backgrounds including Exchange Settlement Account (ESA) holders, industry bodies, corporate organisations, vendors and payment service providers.

This Conclusions Paper provides a summary of the responses received to the Responses and Options Paper and presents the RBA and APC's final conclusions based on the industry consultation. These strategic decisions will set the direction for the industry-led project of migrating payments messaging to the ISO 20022 messaging standards.

Following the release of this paper, Australian Payments Network (AusPayNet) will establish the governance arrangements as set out in the paper, develop a work plan for the migration project and establish initial working groups. The RBA and APC will continue to work cooperatively with the industry in undertaking this migration.

The APC was formed in 2014 as the strategic coordination body for the Australian payments industry. The APC's role is to help ensure the Australian payments system continues to meet changing customer needs with innovative, secure and competitive payment services. Further information on the APC is available here.