ISO 20022 is the international messaging standard for, among other things, the exchange of digital data in payments. This standard enables financial institutions worldwide to exchange information more efficiently and securely.
ISO 20022 is the international messaging standard for, among other things, the exchange of digital data in payments. This standard enables financial institutions worldwide to exchange information more efficiently and securely.
Why is ISO 20022 important?
Uniformity: financial institutions worldwide use the same language.
Efficiency: less manual processing and less chance of errors.
Rich data: messages contain more information, e.g. for fraud prevention.
Future-proof: easily scalable for new services and products.
ISO 20022 in the Netherlands
The Dutch Payments Association supports banks and other market parties in implementing and using ISO 20022. The standard is used in the Netherlands for, among other things:
In Europe, ISO 20022 is already the standard for all account-to-account payments. Worldwide adoption is in full swing: SWIFT has been using the standard since the end of 2025 for all SWIFT messages between financial institutions. This makes ISO 20022 the global standard for interbank payments.
For card payments, ISO 20022 will also become the global standard for exchanging card and payment data between payment terminals, transaction processors, issuers, acquirers, and card companies such as Mastercard, Visa, and American Express.
