ISO 20022 in a Nutshell

Globalization gave rise to a complex payments industry with multiple systems across several markets thereby creating a need for a common universal messaging language. To address the gap, the International Organization for Standardization introduced ISO 20022 in 2004 as the international standard for exchanging electronic messages between financial institutions and corporations worldwide.

ISO 20022’s MX messaging format is richer, more granular, and interoperable versus legacy formats in use for several years such as The Society for Worldwide Interbank Funds Transfer’s (SWIFT) Message Text (MT) and the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

Already in use across 70+ countries, ISO 20022 covers various financial areas aiming to improve the overall quality and consistency of data between parties, particularly when it comes to cross-border payments. Given the benefits, SWIFT announced it will decommission MT messages in November 2025, marking the end of a three-year grace period that allows the coexistence of MT and MX as institutions shift to ISO 20022. 

Estimates predict that by 2025, ISO 20022 will become the global de facto standard with 80% of global volumes and 87% of transaction values being ISO 20022 compliant. Therefore, early adopters of ISO 20022 shall benefit greatly by using a time and cost-efficient format.

Impel’s ISO 20022 API Solution

Impel, a layer 2 fintech innovator built on the XDC Network’s blockchain distributed ledger technology (DLT) provides an ISO 20022 compliant financial messaging application programming interface (API) that may be used by financial institutions and corporations worldwide to send and receive financial data for cross-border and domestic payments.

Impel’s API platform offers all of the current 733 message data definition types, as well as all of the older 1,800+ versions for backwards compatibility. Find the complete ISO 20022 message definitions schema list here. The API may be used in parallel with incumbent nostro and vostro accounts and the Central Bank clearing system to settle payments. 

However, if institutions want to take it up a notch, Impel’s API allows for an optional instant settlement capability by including the functionality to add digital assets such as $XDC, the XDC Network’s native coin, or Fluent Finance's US+ stablecoin in the message’s payload. Using this method, settlement occurs in seconds.  Organizations utilizing Impel’s ISO 20022 API have the option to send one financial message at a time or roll-up as many messages as they desire, as a batched process.

Impel offers a self-paced demo on the XDC Network’s mainnet that allows interested parties to create their own ISO 20022 financial message with or without attaching digital assets.

Bringing Value to the Industry

Impel’s ISO 20022 API not only drives settlement efficiencies for large corporations and banks, but also caters to price-sensitive small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs), neo-banks and emerging market champions, encouraging a wider context of globalization by achieving financial inclusion and leveling the playing field.

The game-changer for the industry is when participants of Impel’s ISO 20022 API use digital assets for instant settlement, which eliminates global challenges such as clearance cut-off times and business closures on weekends and public holidays. This method does not require the use of nostro-vostro accounts, allowing transaction settlement 24x7x365!

Impel’s Bridge to the R3 Corda Platform

Since the introduction of blockchain technology, various protocols and DLT platforms have proliferated, each working within its own individual ecosystem. As such, it became imperative for those digital islands to interact with each other. Cross-chain bridges enable interoperability between different networks, thereby enhancing the scalability of blockchain use and the seamless transfer of digital assets across multiple platforms, which widens the spectrum of business participants.

R3’s Corda platform is a permissioned peer-to-peer DLT developed by over 80 of the world’s largest financial institutions. Impel offers a unique bridging technology to this private DLT via its R3 Corda Bridge; which provides interoperability between a public blockchain and the private DLT CorDapps, acting as a settlement vehicle for contracts and agreements that can be processed within seconds via the use of digital assets such as a stablecoin or $XDC.

As such, Impel’s bridge allows digital asset transactions to be recorded privately on the Corda platform, while limited data sets are recorded on the XDC Network’s public blockchain, thereby mitigating institutional risk and turning Corda into a hybrid solution.

LEARN more about Impel on their website.