ISO 20022 guide for software teams
ISO 20022 messages in bank integration
ISO 20022 defines structured messages for sending payments, receiving payment status, and retrieving statements or account notifications. The right message depends on what your product needs to do and what the company's bank agreement provides.
Choose the message by business task
Payment initiation file
Software → bank
Customer Credit Transfer Initiation carries SEPA payment instructions to the bank.
pain.002Payment status
Bank → software
Customer Payment Status Report describes reception, acceptance, or rejection of a payment file.
camt.053Bank statement
Bank → software
Bank-to-Customer Statement summarizes balances and booked entries for a reporting period.
camt.054Debit/credit notification
Bank → software
Debit/Credit Notification reports debits and credits when the bank provides the message.
File transport and payment generation have separate responsibilities
The production ISECure REST API — File Exchange transports ISO 20022 files allowed by the bank and customer agreement without changing their content. It handles bank-specific Web Services connections, signing, and certificates.
The separate Processing API generates exact pain.001 from a governed payment batch in the test environment. It has its own API Gateway and audience-bound session; it does not submit the file to a bank.
What an implementation still requires
The company needs its own bank agreements and file authorizations. Each bank defines accepted message and schema versions, file types, and delivery schedules. Your software must also handle bank implementation guidelines and exceptions.
- Bank agreements and file authorizations
- An ISO 20022 version accepted by the bank
- Web Services certificates and message signing
- Message validation, status logic, and reconciliation