With the deadline for mandatory global migration set for November 2025, banks worldwide are under increasing pressure to modernise their payment infrastructures, BPC, the payment solutions provider, reveals in a new white paper.
In its latest white paper, ‘ISO 20022 Migration 101: Steps and Strategies for Banks‘, BPC offers a guide to navigating one of the most critical transitions in the global financial ecosystem: the shift to ISO 20022 messaging standards.
BPC warns that institutions that fail to comply risk being disconnected from key clearing networks, facing operational downtime and incurring regulatory sanctions. Its latest research highlights the key regulatory milestones across different regions, from the ECB’s T2-T2S consolidation to Australia’s HVCS and the Bank of England’s new CHAPS mandates, underlining that ISO 20022 is not just an industry trend but a global regulatory imperative.
The white paper also explores the challenges banks face in complying with ISO 20022 standards, including legacy system limitations, operational risks, coordination complexities and resource constraints. Importantly, the report highlights and explains the uneven capabilities among solution vendors, emphasising the need for future-ready, agile platforms.
BPC’s SmartVista platform is designed to bridge the compliance gap and unlock the broader value of ISO 20022. By offering full native support for both legacy SWIFT MT and modern MX messaging, SmartVista enables gradual migration with minimal to zero disruption. Its modular, microservices-based architecture ensures scalability, real-time processing and compliance with evolving global mandates, including SWIFT CBPR+ standards.
Evgeny Kozhin, head of POC at BPC, said: “The successful renewal of our SWIFT CBPR+ attestation reinforces BPC’s position as a trusted partner for ISO 20022 migration. With SmartVista, we enable banks not only to meet regulatory deadlines but also to unlock the full potential of richer data, greater interoperability and real-time payment capabilities. Our mission is to ensure that every institution can transform compliance into a strategic advantage.”
Global insight
In the white paper, BPC analyses migration success stories, including EthSwitch, Ethiopia’s national payment switch, which connects banks and financial institutions across the country. EthSwitch recognised the need for a fast and efficient payment solution that could handle high volumes while remaining secure and cost-effective.
To meet this demand, EthSwitch selected BPC as a strategic partner, to deliver the integration expertise of ISO 20022 through its Integration platform, advanced technology, and flexible cloud-native architecture required to modernise Ethiopia’s payment ecosystem. Through the initiative, it enhanced financial inclusion and transaction speed nationwide.
It also explores Meezan Bank in Pakistan, which deployed a modern participant payment gateway integrated with national instant systems (1LINK and RAAST), boosting transaction volumes, real-time transfers and open banking capabilities. The shift to ISO 20022 messaging enabled Meezan to bridge the gap between multiple participants, ranging from banks and merchants to government agencies, by ensuring richer data exchange, improved interoperability and more seamless transaction processing.
