AusPayNet’s High Value Clearing System successfully migrates to ISO 20022 message standard
MEDIA RELEASE
20 March 2023
AusPayNet’s High Value Clearing System successfully migrates to
ISO 20022 message standard
A key pillar of the Australian payments system, the High Value Clearing System (HVCS), has today successfully adopted the ISO 20022 message standard, marking one of the most significant transformations of the payments system in recent times.
Coordinated by Australian Payments Network (AusPayNet), the successful ISO 20022 migration is the culmination of four years of collaboration between regulators and participants in the Australian payments industry and has been completed in alignment with the global upgrade of the cross-border payments system coordinated by Swift.
With ISO 20022 payment messages able to carry richer, more enhanced and structured data, the migration will lead to significant improvements to process-automation, interoperability and corporate customer experience in Australian payments.
Among other benefits, the new messaging standard will allow more structured remittance information and identification of parties in the payments chain, aiding know-your-customer, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing efforts, and sanctions-screening.
Financial institutions will be able to create seamless experiences for corporate customers and ultimately deliver faster, cheaper, transparent and more accessible payments.
Commencing with a consultation process facilitated by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in 2019, the migration process has since featured extensive collaboration between 50 HVCS participant financial institutions in building, testing and implementing key aspects of the new messaging standard in Australia. The RBA recommended that AusPayNet coordinate the migration to ISO 20022 following its consultation period.
AusPayNet’s Chief Executive Officer, Andy White, noted that, “the migration has been the largest and most complex program of work AusPayNet has undertaken to date in-house, demonstrating the organisation’s capability to undertake similar scale initiatives for the payments industry in future."
“A small, dedicated and highly skilled team within AusPayNet has worked tirelessly for more than three years to get us to this point. Alongside our 50 HVCS participants, the team should be congratulated on delivering such a complex program of work,” Mr White said.
Pat Antonacci, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Swift, said: “financial institutions and infrastructures around the world have embraced ISO 20022 for its potential to unlock significant new opportunities in both payments processing and service innovation. AusPayNet’s successful migration puts Australia at the forefront of realising those possibilities.”
RBA Head of Payments Settlements, Greg Johnston, welcomed the success of the once-in-a-generation transformation of the high-value payments system.
“This type of large-scale, whole-of-industry initiative is notoriously difficult to deliver successfully, and all HVCS Participants, together with the AusPayNet team, have done well to get everyone ready in unison, setting the bar for high-quality delivery and effective collaboration.
“This is a strategically significant change for Australia’s payments system and the global payments community, creating the platform to meet the future needs of the payments ecosystem.
“While there remains a great deal of work to do for the industry to complete the migration and start to leverage the benefits, the AusPayNet team is well positioned to continue to lead the industry on that journey,” Mr Johnston said.
To learn more about this initiative, visit the ISO 20022 Industry Migration page on AusPayNet’s website.
