ISO 20022: The New Standard

ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization and it is an independent, non-governmental international organization. It brings global experts together to agree on best practices. To find out more about visit their website: https://www.iso.org/home.html.

ISO 20022 is a global standard for electronic financial messaging introduced in 2004. It is being adopted for wire transfers to replace legacy formats like SWIFT MT and EDI. It offers a richer, more structured data format, improving payment processing, compliance and reconciliation.

The transition ensures better interoperability between banks and corporations, enhances straight-through processing (STP), improves fraud detection and aligns with regulatory and compliance needs.

City National Bank sends all domestic and international USD wires to the Federal Reserve Financial Services network via Fedwire. City National Bank sends all international FX wires to the SWIFT network. City National Bank receives incoming wires from both networks. 

By November 24, 2025, each financial institution and non-bank financial institution on the SWIFT Network is expected to migrate to the ISO format.

As of the morning of November 10, City National Bank will send and receive all international FX wire transfer messages to the SWIFT Network in the ISO 20022 format.

No action is required from our clients at this time; City National Bank will handle the message conversion to the ISO format.

You will not have to change anything in your current wire process as no additional wire detail or beneficiary address information will be mandated.

Please note, where country-specific requirements for beneficiary addresses already exist (e.g., Canadian wires require a full beneficiary address), those requirements will not change with CNB’s November 10, 2025, ISO conversion.

There are no changes to SWIFT BICs. City National Bank’s SWIFT BICs is: CINAUS6L