ISO 20022 Structured Address Changes

What does this mean for your wire payments?

Effective November 14, 2026, all wire payments must use structured address information. Structured address is part of the industry’s ongoing adoption of ISO 20022, the global standard for financial messaging. BOK Financial is updating its systems and client channels to align with these requirements.

Why is this changing?

The financial industry is moving away from free-form address fields and toward structured data to improve payment accuracy, automation, transparency, and compliance screening. SWIFT will no longer support unstructured postal addresses in November 2026, and the Federal Reserve plans related Fedwire updates on November 16, 2026. Both SWIFT and the Federal Reserve are requiring a “hybrid” format or fully structured address. BOKF will be moving to fully structured address. The globally standardized format will allow the address information to be broken down into distinct fields maximizing straight-through processing and will align with current changing messaging standards.

What is changing on November 14, 2026?

Complete beneficiary address information will be required for all wire transfers as follows:

What you need to do?

Review the sections below and update your wire templates, address book contacts, files, or messaging formats you use prior to October 31, 2026. If you are already using fully structured address information, changes are not required. If not, action is required before the November 2026 deadline.

Exchange online wire entry

If you create wires in Exchange using saved templates or beneficiaries, review your existing records now. Delete any templates you no longer need and update the ones you want to keep with the required structured address details.

Bank-defined templates

If BOK Financial created wire templates on your behalf, you will receive instructions for reviewing and updating those templates. Please complete the requested address details or mark the ones that are no longer needed and return the information by the deadline provided.

Client-defined templates and address book contacts

If you created your own templates or store beneficiary records in Exchange contacts, please review the beneficiary address information for each template and add all missing beneficiary information.

Complete beneficiary address information includes:

• Domestic wires: Address Line 1 (no P.O. Boxes), Address Line 2 (optional), City, State, Postal Code, Country
• International wires: Address Line 1 (no P.O. Boxes), Address Line 2 (optional), City, Province (optional, if applicable), Postal Code (optional, if applicable), Country

Wire file interface users

If you send wire payments by file, review the beneficiary address data included in your files and prepare for possible format updates. BOK Financial will provide additional file specification details and testing requirements, if needed, to help you complete your transition.

SWIFT MT message users

If you use SWIFT MT 103, you will need to move to the pacs.008 format by the November 14, 2026 deadline. For SWIFT MT 101 payment initiation messages, you will need to move to pain.001 format by the November deadline. Please review your current process and ensure your address data meets the required format.

Third-party providers

If you use an ERP, TMS, gateway, or other third-party providers to initiate wires, contact that provider as soon as possible. Confirm its timeline for ISO 20022 updates and identify any changes required to your files, data, or workflow.

What happens if you do not make these updates?

Once Fedwire and SWIFT move to structured addresses, domestic and international wire transfers, which do not contain complete beneficiary address information, could cause your wire payments to be delayed or rejected by Fedwire or SWIFT.

How BOK Financial will support you:

We will continue to share implementation details, instructions, and timing updates as the deadline approaches. Additional outreach will be provided for clients who need to update bank-defined templates, file import or file transmission formats.

Resources

For additional background on ISO 20022 and the industry’s transition to structured financial messaging, you may find the following resources helpful:

• ISO 20022 Home – Official overview of the standard and access point for ISO 20022 information.
• About ISO 20022 – Good high-level explainer for clients who want to understand what ISO 20022 is and why it matters.
• Frequently Asked Questions – Helpful for clients who want more background on the standard and how it is used.
• ISO 20022 Message Definitions – Useful for technical users or vendors who need deeper details on message structures.
• The ISO 20022 Repository – Helpful for users who want to understand how message definitions and business components are organized.

Questions or need help?

Please contact your Treasury Management Officer or Relationship Manager for assistance.
You may also email bokfstructuredaddress@bokf.com.