Ongoing evolutions within the payments industry present promising avenues for market participants to modernize their infrastructure. If embraced, these events could provide wide-ranging benefits, from reduced risk and maintenance costs, to more efficient sanctions screening and enhanced customer payment experiences.
But with these opportunities also comes a new level of complexity. One that presents uncertainty, novel integration challenges, and potential roadblocks to the success of modernization initiatives.
One pressing industry transition placing pressure on institutions is market adoption of ISO 20022, ahead of the November 2025 deadline. Another is the introduction of Swift Essentials, Swift’s new subscription model, which includes a range of value-added products and services that must be activated and integrated into banks’ existing workflows.
Despite the challenges, many customers are using these market events as catalysts to revitalize their long-term payments modernization strategies.
Why are banks moving to ISO 20022?
The structured and enriched data in ISO 20022 messages ensures a better and faster end-to-end management of payments, thanks to upfront checks, lower friction throughout the payment process, and more effective reconciliation.
Key Benefits of ISO 20022:
- Reduced Risk and Maintenance Cost
- More Efficient Sanctions Screening
- Improved Processing Time and Accuracy
- Better Customer Experience
That being said, institutions need to consider the risks associated with a change as transformational as ISO 20022 and create dedicated mitigation strategies. Managing and storing new transaction information, while retaining old data, poses a challenge, particularly from a regulatory compliance standpoint.
In addition, national regulators and market infrastructures have set different deadlines for ISO 20022 adoption, meaning that banks operating across borders need to carefully plan their migration strategy with a detailed implementation plan.
Main Challenges of ISO 20022:
- Understanding the complexity of ISO 20022 as a payments standard
- Need for a migration strategy and execution plan
- Understanding the migration risks and preparing mitigation strategies
Why is the industry embracing Swift Essentials?
At its core, Swift Essentials is a repackaging, refinement, and reimagining of Swift’s existing product and service portfolio. So, why is it considered an innovative approach?
Swift Essentials enhances efficiency and integration, supporting Alliance Cloud, Swift APIs, Alliance Connect Virtual, and more. But it also embraces new technological trends, in particular through its alignment with ISO 20022 as the new global messaging standard, and through the focus on API-based services.
Additionally, Swift Essentials improves access to tools and solutions that facilitate financial crime compliance and risk management. And it improves end-to-end transaction processing, giving banks the tools to deliver the high-quality services that customers expect.
Key Benefits of Swift Essentials:
- Elevates your end-customer experience
- Enhances the technological maturity of the industry
- Simplifies access to the Swift network through a single subscription service
Main Challenge of Swift Essentials:
- The need for activation and integration of services
Services supported through Swift Essentials do not come integrated. Banks will need to activate and integrate the solutions they are entitled to. For financial institutions, connecting all required APIs and systems can be a significant task. Linking and maintaining several layers of interdependent banking solutions and consolidating the collective data may well prove demanding.
The toll of this complexity and the labor-intensive workload could also make it difficult to bring services to customers in a timely manner. For that reason, banks might need an experienced technology and integration partner to achieve the desired outcomes.
Swift Complementors like IntellectEU remove these challenges, providing consultancies services and tools to streamline banks’ integration with Swift Essentials.
Enable Swift Essentials with Catalyst
Unlock Swift Essentials with Catalyst Integration Manager, our application and integration layer solution that supports any ERP/back office to Swift, including Swift API integration and ISO 20022 translation.
Enable Swift Essentials with Catalyst
Catalyst Integration Manager connects financial enterprises to Swift API services with unmatched efficiency and flexibility. Simply connecting to our solution enables integration to all supporting Swift Essentials interfaces and capabilities, eliminating the burden of manual integration tasks. These capabilities are complemented by IntellectEU's unrivaled Swift complementor services.
Swift Complementor Services Built on 17 Years of Experience
IntellectEU expert teams empower customers to get the most out of their Swift Essentials package, enabling:
- Transactions Screening Service
- Payments Pre-Validation
- Swift GPI
- Swift Go
- Swift Securities View
For customers who are not API ready, or who need to integrate APIs into existing workflows, IntellectEU’s Catalyst Integration Manager provides the perfect platform to fully enable the benefits of Swift Essentials.
Enable Swift Essentials with Catalyst
IntellectEU Specialized Swift Services
-> ISO 20022
-> Customer Security Programme (CSP) Assessment
-> Public Cloud Migration and Management
*Swift Essentials; Alliance Cloud; Alliance Connect Virtual; Swift GPI; Swift Go; Swift Securities View are trademarks of S.W.I.F.T. SC.
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