Updated Lynx ISO 20022 guidelines released
New guidance supports transition planning ahead of MT/MX coexistence ending November 2025
Payments Canada has published updated Lynx ISO 20022 message specifications and a companion document that provides industry guidelines for formatting ISO 20022 messages between financial institutions. These guidelines will prepare participating Payments Canada member organizations for the scheduled end of the coexistence of MT and MX messages in November 2025, when some MT messages will no longer be supported.
Guidelines include the introduction of a hybrid postal address that was introduced by Swift's Payment Market Practice Group (PMPG). This hybrid option will allow for a grace period solution for populating postal address elements.
The new address format allows a combination of structured elements (town name and country) with unstructured fields (address lines). These fields will help organizations with unstructured data comply without needing an all-or-nothing shift to structured data.
More structured formats for addresses will help reduce errors, improve efficiency, enhance automated recognition and improve data extraction, making it easier to meet compliance requirements like sanctions screening and anti-money laundering (AML) monitoring.
Other guidelines will help organizations prepare for Swift’s move to the MX messaging format, which is enabled with XML protocol. MX messages allow for seamless and straight-through payment processing.
In order to prepare for the end of coexistence and hybrid postal address implementation, financial institutions and their corporate clients, payment service providers and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP))/Treasury Management Systems (TMS) software providers are encouraged to review and learn about the potential impacts and opportunities of these changes.
Payments Canada leads the adoption of ISO 20022 in Canada by offering resources, education, training and operational support for Canada’s financial ecosystem. We also manage ISO 20022 usage guidelines for our payment systems in alignment with global standards. For more information on ISO 20022, please visit our ISO 20022 resources page.
Anshul Tripathi, Manager, ISO 20022 at Payments Canada, will be exchanging ideas with Neil Buchan, Head of Standards at Swift at The 2025 Payments Canada SUMMIT. Their session is Wednesday, May 7 from 1:20 to 1:40 pm.
Register with code SUMM25PCVIP and save.
