ISO 20022 FedWire Conversion

A CHANGE TO YOUR WIRE FORMAT

Effective July 14, 2025, the Federal Reserve has adopted a global standard and converted the FedWire system to the ISO format.

The financial services industry is made up of financial institutions, government agencies, financial technology and payment service providers that require a seamless exchange of information to facilitate your transactions. Due to the vast nature of service offerings and payment channels, groups of experts from industry, governmental, and non-governmental organizations have developed ISO 20022, a global standard for information exchange.

What is ISO 20022?

ISO (International Organization for Standardization) 20022 is a global standard that allows financial institutions to communicate using a common set of messages and language to include payment messages like wire transfers.

What is FedWire?

FedWire is a secure, real-time electronic funds transfer system that allows financial institutions to send and receive money. Whether you enter your wire through Digital Banking, or complete a wire transfer form, it is ultimately sent through the FedWire system for processing.

Why did this conversion taking place?

The ISO 20022 FedWire conversion took place to standardize the format of payment messages across the global financial system, enabling richer data exchange, improved efficiency in processing cross-border payments, and reducing errors due to data inconsistencies.

When is this happening?

The ISO 20022 FedWire conversion is already in effect as of July 14, 2025. All wires sent on or after this date must be in the new ISO format.

What does this mean for me?

Any wires you send will have to follow the new format.

Was MainStreet Bank the only bank affected by the conversion?

No, this was a mandated change by the Federal Reserve affecting all financial institutions that process FedWire payments. This is an important detail as all financial institutions will be converting on the same day.

What did MainStreet Bank do to prepare for the conversion?

We diligently worked to ensure a smooth transition, which included comprehensive testing of our systems and proactively converted your existing wire templates to the new ISO 20022 format. Despite our best efforts, there may be unanticipated issues that could arise with the Federal Reserve’s processing of wires or with the receiving financial institution’s ability to process the new message format.

Is there anything I need to do after the conversion?

The good news is that we will be converting your current templates to the new format, so that when you log in to send a wire on or after July 14th, you should still see all of your templates! Due to complexities with various fields, it is imperative that you review each wire template (with an enhanced focus on address fields) prior to using it for the first time.

What are the differences between the current format and the new ISO format?

The field names will be noticeably different. For example: what you may know as a recipient or beneficiary will now be known as a creditor; and the receiving or beneficiary bank will now be known as creditor agent. By standardizing the format, there will also be additional fields that you haven’t seen before. For example: the address fields will be broken out from single address lines to specific fields for building number, street name, department, building name, floor, room, etc.