Previous:   Understanding the ISO 20022 Message Registration Process

What is a 'Usage Guideline'?

Usage guidelines are nothing but restrictions applied on the global or base ISO message.

What is meant by restrictions? A base ISO 20022 message provides the maximum flexibility and maximum capacity of information handling, for example, it has the maximum number of elements and sub-elements, it has the option of sending multiple payments information in a single message and so on. Now, what the different payment market infrastructures have done is, they have applied certain restrictions on this base message and created their own version of the message which is best suited for their use. These restrictions they impose are called usage guidelines. What kind of restrictions do they impose? Restrictions may be - removal of optional elements, making an optional element mandatory, changing the number of occurrences of an element, changing the length of characters of an element etc.

Working Groups of SWIFT

The Cross Border Payments and Reporting Plus or the CBPR+ working group of SWIFT, which is a part of SWIFT which deals with cross border payments and reporting, have designed the CBPR+ usage guidelines. This guideline must be used when SWIFT MX messages are used for cross border payments and reporting.

Similarly, for domestic or regional RTGS payments there is a separate working group called the High Value Payment Systems Plus or the HVPS+ working group. When using SWIFT MX for the domestic or regional leg of any payment, the HVPS+ usage guideline must be used.

Again, the Common Global Implementation Market Practice Group or the CGI-MP working group deal with corporate to bank SWIFT communication. So, communications between a bank and a corporate, for example the PAIN messages, must follow the CGI-MP usage guidelines.

Lastly, there is a Real Time Payment Group or RTPG which deals with the small value retail instant payments which use SWIFT. So such instant payment messages must follow the RTPG usage guideline.

WANT TO READ MORE?

Sign Up to get notifications of future blog posts 

Sign up/ Login

Already signed up/ logged in? Then you are all set!

Next:    Decoding MT to MX Migration: Common Terms Unveiled