If you or your business sends or receives domestic or international wires, you have likely heard the term ISO 20022 over the last few years. This November 2026, new data requirements will begin to be enforced across major payment networks, including Fedwire and SWIFT, to standardize global payments. 

To help ensure your business experiences zero disruptions, here is a quick guide to what ISO 20022 is, what is changing this November, and how you can prepare.

What is ISO 20022?

In the past, global payment systems relied on legacy messaging formats to send wire transfers. These formats acted like simple text messages—limited in size, prone to manual errors, and lacking flexibility.

ISO 20022 is the new, universal standard for financial messaging which financial institutions around the world must adhere to. Think of it as upgrading from an unstructured text message to a highly detailed, digital form. It uses an XML-based structure that allows financial institutions to transmit higher-quality data with every transaction.

This change can allow for:

• Faster Processing Times
• Fewer Manual Interventions
• A More Seamless and Secure Payment Experience

What is Changing?

Free-text address fields are going away. Effective November 16, 2026, all wire transfers will need a complete address. Free-text fields will be obsolete, and street address, city/town, and county will need to be separate, dedicated fields. Wire transfers with incomplete or missing information may be delayed or rejected.

Key Dates To Know

• August 23, 2026: ConnectOne Bank’s wire interface will be updated. You will see an updated look for wire transfers in your Online Banking portal and can begin making updates to your wire templates and files.
• October 25, 2026: Wire recipient addresses must be complete and standardized on all wire transfers initiated through your ConnectOne Bank account. Starting this date, wires cannot be approved without compliant address information.
• November 16, 2026: The new address requirements become mandatory. All wire transfers must use the updated address format starting this date

How You Can Prepare

Starting October 25, 2026, wires initiated in ConnectOne’s Business Online Banking will no longer support wire recipient or wire initiator addresses as free-form text fields and will need to be updated to meet regulatory requirements.

To ensure your wire transfers continue to flow smoothly, we recommend taking the following actions ahead of the deadline:

1. Clean Up Your Master Vendor & Payee Data
   Review your Online Banking platform, ERP, or accounting software. Ensure that your beneficiary records explicitly separate the elements of an address—specifically ensuring Town/City and Country are stored in dedicated fields, rather than lumped together in a generic "Address Line 1" text field.
2. Review Your Payment Templates
   If you use templates to initiate wire transfers, check to see if your saved beneficiary details meet the required format standard. All new payees should have city and country fields filled out.
3. Fix or Remove Incomplete Entries
   Correct any addresses using shorthand, abbreviations, missing fields or filler text such as “Unknown” or “Not Provided” where address information is required. Automated validation rules will flag these phrases, resulting in rejected payments.
4. Brief Your Team
   If more than one person at your company sends or approves wires, make sure everyone is aware of the upcoming deadline and what needs to be updated.