Down to the Wire. Is Your Credit Union Ready for Fedwire’s ISO 20022 Adoption?
On July 14, 2025, Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS) will be adopting the ISO 20022 message format for the following products and services: Fedwire Funds Service (Fedwire): Financial Institution Reconcilement Data Files: Statement of Account Spreadsheet Files; and the Transaction End-of-Minute Detail Reports. What does that mean for your credit union? It means that if your credit union has not prepared for the ISO 20022 adoption, your credit union will not be able to access the above FRFS products and services. Since I assume your credit union will want to continue to send wire transfers, let's take a look at this.
What is ISO 20022?
ISO 20022 is an international messaging standard for financial information set by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO is a non-governmental international organization comprised of global standard setters that come together to develop international standards across a variety of industries.
ISO 20022 creates a standardized message format that is used in more than 70 countries. According to Federal Reserve Board (FRB) Services:
"ISO 20022 messages are vital to instant payments and play an important role in the overall modernization of payment processes. Specifically, they provide a structured and data-rich common language that is readily exchanged among corporates and banking systems. This capability is foundational for innovations like moving from end-of-day batch file processing to real-time payment processing. Additionally, ISO 20022 messages provide the opportunity for enhanced analytics, which can lead to offering valuable new levels of payment services to financial institutions' customers."
As noted above, ISO 20022 will hopefully enable faster payments and more innovation. This is a welcome upgrade considering the advent of new technologies, like blockchain, that allow for secure instantaneous transactions.
Does that sound good, but need a visual? Here is an example from FRB Services illustrating the difference between Fedwire Funds Service's proprietary message format and the ISO 20022 format:
What Does My Credit Union Need to Do?
As noted above, FRB Services is adopting the ISO 20022 standard on July 14th. That means if you nor your vendor has prepared for the transition, you won't be able to use the Fedwire Funds Service. The good news is that you are probably prepared for this change. However, here is what is recommended that you do if you aren't sure:
- Check your emails;
- You might have already been notified of this change and what your credit union has done to prepare for it;
- Contact the business unit that is in charge of wire transfers at your credit union;
- Contact your vendor that facilitates wire transfers for your credit union;
- If you are still at a loss, you may consider contacting a vendor that provides services regarding Fedwire
- Here is a list from FRB Services of software vendors that facilitate use of the Fedwire Funds Service. Please note that America's Credit Unions has not reviewed this list and is not endorsing the listed vendors.
- Members of America's Credit Unions can also talk to their peers via the America's Credit Unions' Communities forums to see what they are doing and have done to prepare for the transfer.
Finally, to sprinkle in a little compliance, if it looks like your credit union will not be able send wires after July 13th, you may want to communicate that to frontline staff so that they can provide members with accurate information as needed.