In a pivotal step towards transforming Egypt’s digital payments infrastructure, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced the adoption of the international ISO 20022 standard across the Egyptian banking sector for SWIFT messaging in interbank financial transfers, effective 21 June 2026.
In this regard, Hassan Abdalla, Governor of the CBE, emphasised that this initiative reflects the CBE’s ongoing efforts to advance and modernise the payments infrastructure by enhancing the efficiency of the interbank Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system. He noted that the adoption of ISO 20022 lays the foundation for modern financial services, including open banking and advanced data analytics, while enabling banks and financial institutions to develop innovative banking and financial products in line with international best practices and standards.
ISO 20022 is the world’s most advanced and unified messaging standard for financial transactions. It enhances the efficiency of the interbank RTGS system by enabling faster and more reliable payment processing. It also improves the quality of payment data by allowing the inclusion of more granular and structured information within payment messages. The enhanced data, in turn, improves the cross-border payments experience by facilitating Straight-Through Processing (STP) and reducing manual intervention, ultimately accelerating transaction execution and maximising operational efficiency.
Additionally, ISO 20022 strengthens banks’ capabilities to automatically screen transactions in compliance with local and international Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) recommendations. This reflects the strategic importance of the upgrade in further facilitating cross-border payments and ensuring seamless integration with regional payment platforms.
This step places the Egyptian RTGS system—which has been upgraded to fully comply with the ISO 20022 standard—among the most advanced settlement systems globally, reinforcing its position as a cornerstone of Egypt’s digital financial services infrastructure.
