The global payments landscape is evolving, and the change is happening fast. In November 2025, international payments underwent one of their most significant updates in decades. Legacy SWIFT FIN (MT) messages are being phased out and replaced by MX messages, which follow the ISO 20022 schema.
The new XML-based standard is designed to deliver richer, more structured data, improving automation, transparency and compliance across the entire payment chain.
At ECOMMBX, this transformation is already under way, supporting clients as they move into a new era of smarter, faster and more transparent payments. The transition forms part of a global effort to modernise payment communications, enhance data quality and align the financial industry under a single, structured messaging standard.
What’s changed
Message formats
Many existing MT message types, such as MT103 for customer credit transfers, are being replaced by their MX equivalents, including pacs.008 under ISO 20022.
Richer data, smarter payments
The ISO 20022 structured XML format supports significantly more detailed information, including full addresses, enhanced purpose codes and comprehensive transaction data. This creates clarity at every stage of the payment journey.
Greater efficiency and transparency
Richer data enables better automation, smoother straight-through processing, easier reconciliation and improved tracking through unique end-to-end transaction references.
Stronger compliance and security
Structured data strengthens anti-money laundering checks, sanctions screening and regulatory reporting, providing greater confidence for financial institutions and regulators.
A unified global standard
Banks and corporates worldwide are upgrading their systems to send and receive ISO 20022 XML messages, creating a consistent global framework.
ECOMMBX and the next phase
ECOMMBX has been officially approved for TARGET2 and is moving into full implementation by the first quarter of 2026. This upgrade enables faster and more reliable euro settlements directly within the Eurosystem, offering B2B clients improved liquidity management, reduced intermediary costs and quicker execution for high-value payments across Europe.
The company’s next-generation Payment Initiation APIs allow businesses to manage and execute mass payments directly through their existing ERP or accounting systems. This supports streamlined workflows, automated bulk processing, real-time status updates and seamless integration with third-party software, enabling finance teams to operate faster and with greater accuracy.
With the upcoming Pay Now feature, customers will be able to initiate payments instantly from within their accounting software, using secure PSD2 open-banking rails. This creates a direct flow from invoice to settlement, eliminating manual steps, reducing errors and enabling immediate payment execution with full transparency.
What you need to do
For most customers, no immediate action is required. ECOMMBX is managing the transition to ensure a seamless experience.
Your ECOMMBX Account Manager will keep you informed and guide you through any simple steps, should they be needed.
At ECOMMBX, readiness for ISO 20022 is already a reality.
Let’s make the future of payments work better, together.
More information HERE