Toggle Site Search
Close Site Search
Popular Searches X
SIGN IN
SIGN IN
Toggle Site Search
Close Site Search
Quick Links X

ISO 20022: The New Standard

What’s Changing with Wire Payments?

In 2025, wire transfers transitioned to ISO 20022, a global standard designed to enhance security, efficiency and transparency in payments. This transition will provide continuous improvement to the way wire instructions are processed, making transactions more structured and reducing errors. Below, you’ll find key details, frequently asked questions and resources to help you understand what’s ahead.

Postal Address Requirements

By the end of November 2026, all postal addresses will require the City and Country for all parties involved in
wire payments. PO Boxes are not recommended.

U.S. and Global Standardization

ISO 20022 transition ensures better interoperability between banks and corporations, enhances straight-through processing (STP), improves fraud detection and aligns with regulatory and compliance needs.

Data-Rich Insights

ISO 20022 will enable banks, commercial clients and consumer customers to better communicate
information via all wire payment types.

 

Important Dates

TBD - 2026

Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS) will require that all domestic and international USD wires must contain the Beneficiary City and Beneficiary Country

 

 

November 2026

SWIFT will require that all international FX wires must contain the Beneficiary City and Beneficiary Country

 

 

FAQs

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 2026, all outgoing wires will require beneficiary city and country values, and those values must be transmitted in separate fields in the wire details. Although the 2026 date has been mandated by SWIFT, FRFS has not announced their date. An update will be provided.

As every wire will require the beneficiary city and country, please obtain those values unless your stored wire details already contain that information.

Business applications will be ready to support beneficiary city and country values at different stages during 2026.

The following online applications can currently support beneficiary city and country values in separate fields: CNO Personal, Business Suite, Business Essentials and AgilLink.

  • If you have wire templates or stored payees, please use this time prior to the wire network deadlines to add the required beneficiary values to avoid disruption when those values become mandatory.
  • As you review your templates and payees, if you see that you are not using them, we recommend that you delete unused items. 

For those applications that may not support those wire fields yet, we will provide direct updates on when they can, or you can check back here.

For any incoming wires that you are receiving, or any future wires that you establish, we recommend that you request the originator includes your city and country as part of your address to avoid any delays when these values become mandatory.

As required for ISO 20022, City National Bank will ensure that your originator information will contain the mandatory city and country values.

The SWIFT MIR (Message Input Reference) will be displayed with an extended number of characters. A breakdown is in the table below:

swi03004-YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.667.216508Z

swi03004

“SWITCHid” or SWIFT Equivalent of CNB's BIC Code

YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS

Date/Time Stamp

667

Specific SWIFT identifier

216508

“Digits” or transaction sequence number

 Z

Hardcoded Z

 

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

Our specialized team is here for you.

Thank you for choosing City National Treasury Management Solutions.
Our team offers help, troubleshooting and training for all online treasury services.

Email

Send your questions to:




TMServicing@cnb.com

Call Us

Monday through Friday
8:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. ET
5:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. PT
 

(213) 673-9393
 or (800) 599-0020

City National Bank, its affiliates and subsidiaries, as matter of policy, does not give tax, accounting, regulatory or legal advice. Rules in the areas of law, tax, and accounting are subject to change and open to varying interpretation. You should consult with our other advisors on the tax, accounting and legal implications of actions you may take based on any strategies presented taking into account your own particular circumstances.

Additional Terms and Agreements apply for all City National Bank products and services. For more information, please see the Treasury Management Disclosure and Agreement.

Non-Deposit Investment Products: • Are Not FDIC Insured • Are Not Bank Guaranteed • May Lose Value