August 2026
Recognition reinforces Eastnets’ role in helping financial institutions assess readiness, remediate address data and reduce the risk of payment disruption ahead of the November 2026 ISO 20022 milestone.
Eastnets is pleased to be recognised by Swift for the readiness of its applications for postal address transformation, strengthening its support for banks and payment service providers as they prepare for a major ISO 20022 compliance milestone. Read the Swift Announcement
From November 2026, unstructured postal addresses will no longer be accepted in relevant cross-border payment messages on the Swift network, requiring institutions to move to fully structured or hybrid address formats.
For many financial institutions, the challenge goes beyond changing a field in a payment message. Address data sits across legacy systems, customer databases, payment channels, ERP and treasury platforms, and compliance workflows, often in free-text or semi-structured formats. Ensuring that data can be captured, transformed, validated and processed correctly across the payment chain will be critical to maintaining efficient payment flows and avoiding increased manual intervention as the deadline approaches.
The November 2026 milestone marks the next critical phase of the ISO 20022 journey. Banks, PSPs and corporates will need to ensure that address information can be captured, stored, validated and processed in the right format across multiple systems and payment flows.
At minimum, town and country information must be available in structured fields, while fully structured or hybrid formats will be required depending on the message type and implementation approach.
Readiness therefore requires more than identifying where unstructured addresses exist. Institutions need to understand how data enters payment flows, where transformation or validation is required, what exceptions may arise, and how changes could affect downstream systems, screening and operational processes.
This is also an opportunity to consider how better payment data can support the broader evolution of cross-border payments, improving transparency around payment status, routing, FX and charges, while helping institutions deliver more predictable and valuable services to their customers.
Eastnets supports financial institutions in assessing readiness for structured postal address requirements, identifying gaps in existing payment infrastructure and defining a practical route towards compliance.
Through its PaymentSafe and SafeWatch platform and wider payments and compliance expertise, Eastnets can help institutions process structured and hybrid address formats, manage exceptions and reduce operational risk while working alongside existing payment hubs and protecting previous technology investments.
To help banks and PSPs take the next step, Eastnets is offering a free Structured Address Readiness Assessment, designed to provide a practical view of current readiness and identify where action may be required before November 2026.
“The move to structured postal address data is an important readiness issue for banks and payment service providers worldwide,” said Olivier Denis, Business Development, Payments at Eastnets. “Institutions need to assess their data, systems and payment flows now to avoid unnecessary disruption when the deadline takes effect. At the same time, this transition presents an opportunity to look beyond compliance and consider how richer, more trusted payment data can support greater efficiency, transparency and better customer experiences. Eastnets’ recognition by Swift reinforces our role in helping financial institutions manage this transition with confidence and minimal operational risk.”