On 22 November 2025, the SWIFT network ends "coexistence" between legacy MT messages and ISO 20022. After that date, cross-border payments cleared through SWIFT move on pacs.008 / pacs.009 / camt formats. This is the largest payments-format change since SWIFT itself launched in 1977.
Coexistence began in March 2023. During the coexistence period, banks could send either MT or MX and the network translated as needed. Post-November 2025, the SWIFT FIN service still carries MT but cross-border payments must use ISO 20022 MX.
For domestic clearings, timelines vary: TARGET2 migrated in March 2023, Fedwire and CHIPS in 2025, CHAPS in 2024, Lynx in 2021. By mid-2026 essentially every major RTGS is ISO 20022.
For corporates that originate payments via host-to-host SWIFT (file-based integration with their bank), the action is to upgrade the file format from MT to ISO 20022 XML. Banks have been offering parallel-run periods through 2025.
For SMEs and retail customers — no action needed. Your bank handles the conversion. Your online banking screens look the same; your wire confirmations look the same.
For tracking, the UETR is unchanged. Ohmyfin and other GPI trackers query data that flows regardless of format. Whether your payment is the last MT103 in October 2025 or the first pacs.008 in December 2025, the UETR-based lookup works identically.
For compliance teams, the migration is a win. Structured names, addresses, ultimate-debtor and ultimate-creditor fields mean sanctions screening produces dramatically fewer false positives — early adopters report 30-50% reduction in manual reviews.
MT103 is retired from the cross-border SWIFT service. Banks may still use MT internally for legacy integrations, but the SWIFT-leg message is pacs.008.
Yes — historical records remain valid. The change is only for new outbound traffic.
No. Your bank converts on your behalf. The only customer-facing change is richer detail in your statements and online banking.
Banks have been running parallel pilots for 2 years and the SWIFT network handles translation. The cutover is expected to be uneventful for end customers.