At least since SEPA transactions were introduced, ISO-20022 XML has been an established part of the internal landscape of corporates and banks. The messages pain.001 and pain.008 for credit transfers and direct debits have played a significant part in standardising, automating and digitalising operational and administrative banking processes. Among the most important innovations are the introduction of the first pan-European direct debit scheme and the launch of SEPA Instant Payments.

Gradually, camt.05x as the ISO standard for account information is currently gradually replacing the MT94x standard. Many corporates have already recognised the potential offered by the automated processing of this XML message, provided a full impact analysis and thorough preparation has been carried out in advance. Notifications of incoming instant payments are also transported in the camt format, which is becoming a indispensable for real-time treasury.

One major optimisation is the introduction of the pain.002 message format, which provides both positive and negative feedback about the receipt of a payment by the recipient. At the same time, it provides information on the causes of processing problems and thus supports end-to-end monitoring of the payment process.

Request-to-Pay (R2P) is a completely new message and payment scheme. In the ISO format pain.013, messages are initiated by the creditor and sent to the debtor as "quasi" invoices including an integrated payment instruction. The debtor acknowledges receipt with a pain.014 message and, ideally, pays immediately by pain.001 SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, about which the recipient is immediately informed by a camt message. As a new collection instrument or alternative, low-cost payment method, it is not only online retailers and marketplace operators who expect great added value from R2P.

However, the ISO20022 XML standard also has a major influence on the digitalisation of administrative processes. For example, camt.086 is used by the bank to map bank charges in the form of electronic billing (Bank Service Billing). For the first time, this enables many corporates to fulfil their obligation to check invoices by means of automated invoice reconciliation and to identify any deviations from existing price agreements.

Help for ebam

Another example of the positive effects of ISO 20022 XML on the digitalisation of administrative treasury processes is electronic Bank Account Management (eBAM). Here, the acmt message series enables bank accounts to be opened and closed electronically. In addition, account and signature authorisations can be made in an audit-proof way.
 
With the right banking and solution partners at their side, finance departments can easily participate in the digitalisation of corporate banking using robust applications based on the key technology ISO-20022 XML and successfully set their corporate on the path to a bright digital future.

Translation of „Door opener for digital treasury“ in „Der Treasurer Printausgabe 2-2024"