SWIFT ISO 20022 Address Data Requirements

In brief

As part of the global ISO 20022 migration, banks are moving away from fully unstructured postal address data in payment instructions. By Q1 2027, clients processing cross-border and other inscope domestic market payments will be required to provide address details in either a fully structured or hybrid structured format. The deadline has been postponed from the initial date of 14 November 2026.

The new requirements apply across a range of payment channels, including TT, RTGS payments in selected countries, SEPA/SEPA instant, bank portals, and Host-to-Host/ERP file integrations. For payments processed using the ISO 20022 standard, beneficiary address information must include the Town/City and ISO two-letter Country Code in structured fields, for both domestic and cross-border payments.

Where a hybrid structured address format is used, up to two Address Line fields may be permitted for remaining address details, with each Address Line limited to 70 characters. Payment instructions that do not include the required address data may be rejected, delayed or not processed by banks.