Swift Warns of November Deadline for Cross-Border Payment Address Standardization

Swift, the global financial messaging network, has announced that it will no longer support unstructured postal addresses in cross-border payment messages after November 2026. Payments that do not meet this standard may be delayed or rejected, making it essential for the financial sector to overhaul its data systems.

This move is part of Swift's ISO 20022 transition, which aims to improve the quality and transparency of cross-border payment data. The goal is to increase automated processing efficiency and enable more accurate compliance processes such as anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC).

Ripple, a blockchain-based payment solution, has already been actively involved in the ISO 20022 framework and meets the required standards. Industry experts believe that Swift's data structuring policy and Ripple's regulatory compliance strategy are aligned, with Ripple being closer to a payment processing solution.