The Federal Reserve Board announced the final timeline and implementation details for the adoption of a new Fedwire Funds Service message format. The final details are broadly similar to the proposal issued last year.
The Board confirmed that the new message format, ISO 20022, will be adopted on a single day as proposed last year, rather than in three separate phases. The Board also provided a new timeline for implementation based on review of public comments, with the new message format to be adopted on March 10, 2025. In addition, the Board provided further information regarding customer testing and other implementation details.
The Fedwire Funds Service is a real-time gross settlement system owned and operated by the Federal Reserve Banks, which enables businesses and financial institutions to transfer funds quickly and securely. Adopting the new message format for the Fedwire Funds Service will allow for enhanced efficiency of both domestic and cross-border payments due to greater interoperability among global payment systems, and a richer set of payment data that may help banks and other entities comply with sanctions and anti-money laundering requirements. The new message format is an industry standard that many global payment and messaging systems are adopting.
The new message format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization, which is an independent, non-governmental organization that publishes standards for a broad range of industries.