Integration software and services company SEEBURGER has partnered research and advisory firm Celent to conduct a global survey on the ISO 20022 readiness of banks and corporates. Conducted by Celent in collaboration with SEEBURGER, the survey, ’ISO 20022 – Ready or Not, Here it Comes’, highlights that banks and corporates are not as prepared for the transition to ISO 20022 as expected, with the findings showing that only 28% of banks have confirmed being ‘fully prepared’ for the switch.

This is even though the final deadline for compliance for financial institutions is only two years away. ISO 20022 and report findings on financial institutions’ readiness A global standard for financial messaging, ISO 20022 is being adopted by banks and other financial institutions around the world. Set to begin in March 2023, the transition to ISO 20022 is believed to be a major initiative that is set to modernise the global financial infrastructure.

However, the migration to the new messaging format is reported to present increased challenges in terms of money, work hours and intervention within banks’ core system. Concomitantly, these financial institutions will not be able to leverage their preparations for profit unless the corporates whom they are exchanging the data with are equally capable of processing it. As per press release information, for the survey, the two companies polled 211 global banks and corporates alike, looking to find information on the industry’s readiness and the expectations of banks and benefits in relation to the benefits to come following the migration.

Gareth Lodge, Principal Analyst Payments with Celent stated that ISO 20022 is not just in progress, but also past the point where it is the ‘most widely used payment standard globally’. Furthermore, the survey details that banks and corporates respectively expect the migration to be beneficial to both sides to some degree, however, they both see the benefits being mainly accrued on the bank side, with the votes for corporates being in the single digits throughout. Considering that the extensive data ISO 20022 has to offer can only be leveraged if both sides are equally prepared to process it, the assumption is believed to be worrying.

Although the time for the preparation towards the switch to ISO 20022 has not ended, the findings of the survey suggest that a multitude of banks and corporates might underestimate the challenge this presents and are not taking the necessary steps to help ensure a smooth transition. This is believed to prevent them from leveraging the new format to its full potential when the deadline arrives. SEEBURGER officials stated that the company has an understanding of their customers’ core systems and applications and how they work and are aware of their business needs and the challenges they face when migrating to new infrastructure.

Having carried out the survey, the company believes that the data gathered is set to enable them to help them serve the financial services ecosystem in an improved way. .