As the global payments community continues its transition to ISO 20022, the new global standard for cross-border payments, a new milestone is on the horizon. A key component of the transition will be the removal of unstructured postal addresses, planned for November 2026 as part of the SR 2026 standards release.
This change has been requested by our community and reflects the continued evolution of ISO 20022 towards structured data that supports more precise filtering, improved monitoring and higher levels of automation in payments processing.
We are committed to delivering this change in November 2026 and to supporting the community throughout the transition.
Why unstructured addresses are being removed
The removal of unstructured addresses will improve data quality in cross-border payments. Structured address data allows for greater straight-through processing, more effective compliance screening and enhanced transparency across the payments chain.
This directly supports the G20 goal of improving data quality and transparency in cross-border payments and the CPMI harmonisation requirements. It also supports future data requirements, e.g. FATF Recommendation 16: Improved payment transparency and screening/monitoring of required debtor and creditor information.
As ISO 20022 adoption matures, the use of rich and structured data is essential to realise the full benefits of the new global standard. Unstructured addresses are increasingly a barrier to automation and operational efficiency, which is why their removal has been prioritised by our community.
Who does this change impact?
This planned change has significant implications for banks, corporates, vendors and market infrastructures.
Successful implementation depends on banks’ ability to capture and validate correct address data from clients (corporates and retail) across all channels and branches. Market infrastructures are deeply involved because many are aligned to the same November 2026 deadline or applying strong validation ahead of CBPR+.
What this means for our FI community
This planned change extends beyond internal system updates. Banks will need to consider the downstream impact on their customers and counterparties, including the need to:
- Structure existing customer address data
- Ensure channel applications can capture structured address information
- Engage customers early, so that they understand what data they need to provide
This will require coordinated action across business, operations and technology teams, as well as early client engagement.
What’s required for November 2026
From November 2026, town and country information must be provided in designated fields, at a minimum, for all agents and parties in CBPR+ payment messages, except for ISO 20022 message identifiers admi.024, camt.025, camt.052, camt.053, camt.054 and camt.060. For agents, use of the BIC only continues to be a valid option rather than providing name and address.
This requirement applies to all payments, including corporate, securities, trade, FX and funds.
After November 2026, payments containing unstructured addresses will no longer be supported. This may result in operational disruption for banks and their customers if preparations are not completed in time.
Current adoption levels
Despite strong progress across the community, adoption remains uneven. Today, approximately 65% of payment messages still contain unstructured addresses.
With less than nine months remaining, we are calling on the community to step up their efforts to transition the remaining addresses to structured or hybrid postal addresses quickly and to avoid last-minute challenges.
As address information must be sourced at origin, it is not possible for Swift to develop a contingency solution for financial institutions who experience delays in readiness. Therefore, the November deadline must be adhered to.
What financial institutions should do now
We encourage institutions not to treat this as a typical standards release. Ensure thorough analysis, development, testing and client engagement early on to decrease operational risk.
Organisations should take specific actions to get ready:
- Engage with channel teams to understand how creditor postal address data is captured from retail and corporate clients
- Meet with corporate clients to clarify what is required to provide fully structured or hybrid addresses
- Align across operations and technology teams on how debtor address data is populated
- Review how agent data is populated, particularly where name and address data is used instead of a BIC
- Assess interoperability challenges, where payment market infrastructure timelines are not fully aligned with CBPR+
- Evaluate current capabilities to output structured or hybrid postal addresses and the effort required to close any gaps
- Take measures to prevent clients from submitting unstructured address data going forward
What corporates should do now
We strongly encourage corporates to engage early with their banking partners to understand bank specific address requirements and access available onboarding and testing support.
Further resources
We will continue to work closely with the community to reinforce expectations and support readiness ahead of November 2026.
A wide range of tools, guidance and professional services are available to support institutions at every stage of their ISO 20022 journey:
Explore the roadmap and benefits
Visit our ISO 20022 hub or contact your account manager to explore the roadmap and benefits.
