ISO standards set the bar for quality, efficiency, and safety across multiple sectors globally. Understanding these guidelines can assist with making better investment decisions.
ISO 20022 compliant cryptocurrency tokens can integrate seamlessly with traditional financial systems, as they use a standardized format to transfer information – making integration more straightforward into existing payment networks.
Streamlined Cross-Border Payments
ISO 20022 messages provide more precise and efficient cross-border payments processing, with reduced errors, enhanced payment experiences, shortened reconciliation timelines and simplified compliance processes.
ISO 20022’s standardized structure also permits more information to be included in messages rather than being lost through current MT formats, thus increasing accuracy of transaction data and improving communication among banks.
A higher level of transaction data detail allows for more effective anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions violations screening, decreasing compliance breaches and subsequent regulatory fines. Improved message harmonisation represents another step forward towards streamlining cross-border payments alongside initiatives like SWIFT’s gpi and distributed ledger technologies (DLT). Afnan Mohammed Al Ghamdi, EVP Head Payment Operation Shared Services Group at Saudi Arabian National Commercial Bank (SNCB), noted that transitioning to ISO 20022 may take some time but was beneficial for everyone involved and the banking industry overall.
Improved Trust & Transparency
Cryptocurrencies’ primary appeal was their peer-to-peer transactional functionality that was independent from central banks and financial regulations, and that promoted self-governance and decentralization – two philosophies inherent to cryptocurrency itself. ISO 20022 standards may challenge these core principles and move cryptocurrency in an unexpected direction despite claims of neutrality from standards organizations.
ISO migration brings many advantages, but one of its greatest impacts will be felt by cryptos looking to become recognized currencies. Compliance with ISO standards allows these currencies to interact with global financial systems and integrate into databases of top companies like Visa and MasterCard, among others.
Cryptocurrencies’ success in becoming ISO 20022 compliant demonstrates their adaptability to an ever-evolving financial world, opening doors for their inclusion as central bank digital currencies or in global payment systems set up by major financial institutions.
Integration with Central Banks & Financial Institutions
The standard’s more detailed data format makes it ideal for sophisticated payment processing, including anti-money laundering and fraud checks, which improve accuracy and efficiency. Furthermore, new fields provide better customer segmentation as well as targeted products and services.
At present, various payment systems use various messaging formats for cross-border payments, which can be time-consuming and costly to upgrade. With ISO 20022, banks can replace these diverse formats with one standardized standard.
ISO 20022 compliance provides a gateway for integrating crypto into traditional financial systems, allowing compliance-oriented cryptos to easily integrate into banking infrastructures and global payment networks such as SWIFT or IOTA (an Internet of Things-focused distributed ledger) as examples of compliant blockchains that could facilitate their incorporation. Hedera Hashgraph and IOTA both fulfill this criteria allowing seamless integration into traditional payment networks such as SWIFT or global payment networks and may ultimately boost adoption of these cryptos.
Increased Liquidity
Even as crypto remains relatively new, several digital currencies are already adhering to ISO 20022 standards – an impressive feat as this will help facilitate mainstream adoption and wider usage.
SWIFT messaging system and ISO 20022 come together to form a universal language, streamlining communication between financial entities. This will reduce processing time while simultaneously improving data integrity to help identify any potentially fraudulent transactions.
This will result in enhanced customer understanding, reduced fraud instances and quicker resolution of customer complaints. Furthermore, specific message fields have been standardised to avoid information loss caused by truncation or conversion errors.
Ripple’s poll-based consensus algorithm conforms with ISO 20022, providing near instantaneous consensus and quick transaction confirmation times, as well as increasing liquidity of XRP as it integrates more fully into global financial system. Algorand too adheres to ISO 20022 for long-term success within traditional international financial system.
