ISO 15022

The Context

Currently, T+1 and STP are hot topics in the securities industry and beyond. It seems like everybody is agreed that they are noble and necessary objectives.
However, everybody is also agreed that there are many reasons for the lack of T+1 and the low rates of STP. There are various operational and business process issues to be addressed – but one of the most fundamental problems has been the lack of a good standard representation of data supporting securities transactions.
The vast majority of cross-border settlements have been conducted using the messaging services of SWIFT. Up to recently these messages were standardised ISO 7775. The limitations of that standard are well recognised – so, a new fundamentally different approach was called for. The answer that came was ISO 15022.

ISO 15022

The ISO 15022 standard is not data centric like its predecessor. Instead, it is focussed on defining business elements for business scenarios. The business elements are housed in a data dictionary that takes into account the entire transaction chain.

Not just SWIFT

One of the good things about ISO 15022 is that it is being adopted by bodies such as, ISSA, FIX, GSTPA and major ICSDs – so, building systems on ISO 15022 will mean more than just smooth communication with SWIFT. As the new standard takes hold, the quality of data entering and leaving financial organisations will significantly improve.

Gradual Change

As a first step to implementing the new standard, SWIFT have released new message definitions that use the ISO 15022 standards. These messages are in the 5xx series of messages and are replacing existing messages that complied to the ISO 7775 standards. On the weekend of November 17-19 2001, the most significant batch of messages went live on the SWIFT network. November 2002 will see the removal of the corresponding ISO 7775 messages from the network. Users who can only process the old message types will have to apply for membership of a special Message User Group.

Next Step

The next step in the ISO 15022 arena will be more revolutionary. A new set of XML based messages will be introduced on the new SWIFT IP based network (SWIFTNet). These will comply to schemas issued by SWIFT and will be build on the same ISO 15022 business elements that are being used for the existing 5xx ISO 15022 messages.

What is the INCENTAGE Advantage?

INCENTAGE was formed in the environment of change. Our staff has a very deep understanding of ISO 15022 having worked with it since 1998 and having been heavily involved in deployment committees at SWIFT. Our knowledge is thorough and practical; our team has helped move 10 SWIFT customers from ISO 7775 to ISO 15022 using application integration tools.

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