ISO20022 is emerging as a universal language and model for financial messages across the world. Using XML syntax and hierarchical structure, it provides consistent, rich and structured data that can be used for every kind of financial business transactions. The implementation of ISO20022 must be accomplished by November 2025 as requested by SWIFT.

As a pioneering bank in Vietnam to adopt Swift innovations in payment industry (such as Swift GPI, Pre-validation and Swift Go), BIDV has scheduled its own plan to migrate the internal payment system to ISO20022 from the early stage of Swift’s ISO20022 roadmap. In September 2023, BIDV successfully launched its in-house Payment Hub system, a centralized platform to process payment transactions, using ISO20022 as a comprehensive message standard in designing the database architecture, in processing and storage of both domestic and cross-border payments. 

Among various benefits that the adoption of this new messaging standard brings about are: Enhancement of financial institutions’ operational performance with higher straight-through processing (STP) rates while reducing errors and exceptions; Efficient AML risk management; Better understanding of its customers’ needs and constant innovation of its products through data-driven insights and richer reporting; Easy utilization of ISO20022-based information for different banking segments. Not only does BIDV take advantage of the adoption of ISO20022, but also its end customers. With increased straight-through processing rates, better reconciliations and risk management, it should ultimately lead to reduced costs for end customers.

This outstanding move makes BIDV the first local bank in Vietnam and the top 30% of banks around the world to adopt the ISO20022 standard into their internal payment systems for three roles - Instructing Agent, Instructed Agent and Intermediary Agent. More remarkably, BIDV utilizes its internal technology and operation team resources to develop its in-house Payment Hub in which ISO20022 solution plays a crucial role. This is a phenomenal step of Vietnam’s Banking system on the path of integrating global payment technology.