Lloyds Bank is continuing its migration to the ISO 20022 and identifying use cases for the network’s data as its capabilities roll out in phases.

The $36 billion bank is focused on figuring out how to best receive payments and data via ISO 20022, the open global standard for sending digital payment messages and data between financial institutions expected to launch by 2025, Oonagh McGrane, director of FI commercialization and client product at Lloyds Bank, said during interbank financial telecommunication organization SWIFT’s webinar on Thursday.

Having a handle on the data available through ISO 20022 allows the bank to understand statements, balances and transaction reporting, and share that insight with clients, she noted.

While Lloyds Bank is migrating to the platform, it is paying close attention to compliance and ensuring secure payments for customers, McGrane said.

Migrating to SWIFT

The ISO 20022 platform provides FIs with structured data pertaining to transactions and is expected to process 80% of all high-value global payments, according to a 2020 SWIFT report.

Additionally, the platform will reduce false positives generated from sanction screening which generates 5% to 10% of payments alerts, Jeremy McDougall, director of payments at Ernst & Young, said during the webinar.

Institutions migrating to ISO 20022 will find making and executing cross-border payments easier, McDougall said.

For example, if a hypothetical business named “Cuban Grill Limited” is being picked up because “Cuba” is being picked up, a person has to look at the transaction and let it flow. But with ISO 20022 “you could set a rule that says if ‘Cuba’ appears in the country code, then only then will we have a file a report,’” McDougall said. Migrating to ISO 20022 will help in reducing false positives by 25% to 30%, he added.

Financial institutions including Wells Fargo are prioritizing migration this year, John Hunter, head of global treasury management payments and transaction services at the bank, told BAN earlier this year.

According to a January 2023 report by research and advisory firm Celent, which surveyed senior executives at 211 banks across the globe, titled ‘Ready or Not, here it comes: There is no Hiding from ISO 20022,’ 63% of the banks said that they would not be ready to migrate to the new platform by 2025.