Policy Briefing — March 10, 2025

Executive briefing: The Federal Reserve announced that Fedwire Funds Service ISO 20022 implementation is scheduled for 10 March 2025. Participants must support ISO 20022 messages (e.g., pacs.009, pacs.008) and update validation, reconciliation, and fraud controls before cutover.

Key risk themes

• Payment rejection risk. Non-compliant formats or missing mandatory data elements could cause rejected wires on cutover.
• Operational readiness. Interface changes span core banking, AML/OFAC screening, and reconciliation engines that must be regression tested.
• Counterparty coordination. Correspondent banks and service bureaus need aligned deployment windows and message specifications.

Operational priorities

• Message standards. Implement ISO 20022 schemas, market practice guides, and mapping from legacy FIN/MT formats.
• Testing. Complete end-to-end connectivity testing with the Fed testing environment, including negative scenarios and screening integrations.
• Cutover governance. Freeze changes near 10 March 2025, confirm rollback options, and coordinate business continuity plans.

Enablement moves

• Publish a client advisory summarizing the March 2025 timeline and data element impacts for corporate wire customers.
• Update sanction screening and AML rulesets to use enriched ISO 20022 fields (LEIs, UETRs, structured addresses).
• Train operations and treasury staff on new investigation flows using ISO 20022 reference identifiers.

Sources

• Federal Reserve ISO 20022 migration announcement
• Fedwire ISO 20022 implementation center

Zeph Tech supports payments teams with ISO 20022 mapping, testing, and cutover runbooks.

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