ISO 20022 is a multi-part International Standard that enables a common global “language” for the development of messages in the payments, cards & related financial services, securities, foreign exchange trading, derivatives & trade services sectors.

Adoption of the ISO 20022 standard will improve payment processing efficiency and promote interoperability among financial institutions, financial market infrastructures and end-users. This initiative is part of the Bank’s strategic vision to enhance end-to-end efficiency for electronic payments. In that regard the Bank published a Statement of Adoption for ISO 20022 in March 2022 (https://boj.org.jm/statement-for-the-adoption-of-iso-20022/).

ISO 20022 was developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and is the global messaging standard for financial business transactions, including payments.

The Bank is taking a lead role in co-ordinating Jamaica’s migration from the Swift Message Type (MT) standard to the ISO 20022 ‘Universal Financial Industry Message Scheme’ format by end November 2025. Adoption of the ISO 20022 standard should improve payment processing efficiency and promote interoperability among financial institutions, financial market infrastructures and end-users. This initiative is a part of the Bank’s strategic vision to enhance end-to-end efficiency for domestic and cross-border payments.

 The Bank’s target is to ensure that the JamClear® systems will be updated to facilitate both the ISO 20022 standard and the current SWIFT MT standards in a timely manner. This is to allow participants that interface with JamClear® systems to transition at their own pace. The Bank will facilitate coexistence of the ISO 20022 standard with the current SWIFT MT standards until November 2025.

Mostly financial institutions and financial market infrastructures that want to streamline their communication infrastructure and associated costs by opting for a single, common “language” for all financial communication, whatever the business domain, the communication network and the counterparty (other financial institutions, clients, suppliers and market infrastructures). ISO 20022 is targeted at these standards initiatives that are generally driven by communities of users looking for more cost-effective communications to support specific financial business processes with a particular view of facilitating interoperability with other existing protocols.

Migration to the ISO 20022 standard for cross-border payments and reporting (CBPR+) successfully began on 20 March 2023, marking an important milestone for the global payments industry. The JamClear®-Real Time Gross Settlement System (JamClear®-RTGS) migration is scheduled for August 2024. Both SWIFT MT and ISO 20022 messages will co-exist until November 2025.

The cut off time is November 2025.

The JamClear®-Real Time Gross Settlement System (JamClear®-RTGS) which facilitates local payments, is required to transition. Note that migration for cross border payments, via Swift messaging, is also required by the cut off date.

A key objective of the ISO 20022 standard is to facilitate a single standardisation approach such that all payments systems can accommodate the same message standard.

The JamClear®RTGS participants will be required to transition to the new messaging standard by November 2025. In that regard, JamClear®RTGS platforms must be modified to transmit messages via the new standard by that date.

In relation to ACH, that transition process is to be led by the ACH operator supported by the Bank.

Yes, the Bank:

1. Established an ISO 20022 Working Group which is tasked with several functions including the monitoring, coordinating & reporting on the implementation of the ISO 20022 standard with stakeholders. See Terms of Reference (TOR) below:
   Terms of Reference – NPSC – Working Group On The Implementation of ISO20022
   
   
2. Hosted workshops in the first quarter of 2023 for all JamClear® – RTGS Participants. At the workshops, relevant documentation was disseminated to attendees. See attached documents below:
   • RTGS Solution Specification: Annex I – Hybrid Outputs, which details how to set up systems to send MX messages; and
     Annex I – Hybrid Outputs
     
     
   • RTGS Solution Specification: Annex B – RTGS MX Message Formats, which details the required fields, message structures, rules etc. for ISO 20022 messages.
     RTGS MX Message Formats v1
     
     

     Additional workshops will be hosted by the second quarter of 2024

3. Periodically dispatches surveys to all JamClear®–RTGS participants to determine the status of readiness to transition and the level of support required from the Bank. This will be used to guide the development of future workshops. The most recent survey was shared in October 2023.

1. The Bank has established a Project Team named below:
   

   No.	Name	Position	Email Address
   1	Donna Hamilton-Smith	Project Manager	Donna.hamilton-smith@boj.org.jm
   2	Kevin McKenzie	IT -Team Lead	Kevin.mckenzie@boj.org.jm
   3	Jennifer O’Mally-Johnson	IT Team	Jennifer.o’mally-johnson@boj.org.jm
   4	Andra Shepherd	FMI Compliance	Andra.shepherd@boj.org.jm

2. There is a dedicated mailbox for queries – ISO20022@boj.org.jm

The test environment will be available by the second quarter of 2024.