Payments

Navigating payment changes: ISO 20022 and address requirements in 2026

3 min to read

Nordic businesses need to prepare for payment system changes, including the end of unstructured addresses and ISO 20022 version upgrades. Early preparation is crucial for a seamless transition.

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The financial services landscape is experiencing significant transformation, particularly in payment processing standards. A recent webinar hosted by Nordea shed light on two major changes affecting Nordic customers: mandatory postal address requirements and ISO 20022 format upgrades.

The end of unstructured addresses

In the future, a fundamental shift will occur in how postal addresses are used in payments. Banks and clearing systems will no longer accept cross-border, SEK and SEPA payments containing unstructured postal addresses. This change affects all international payments, SEK and EURO payments, wherever postal addresses are used in payments.

The transition moves from unstructured addresses – where information is displayed in a single field – to either structured or hybrid address formats. Think of it like the difference between writing a delivery address in one jumbled line versus using designated fields for name, street, postal code, country, etc. This structured approach optimises payment processing, enhances security and improves payments data quality.

Updated timeline

The removal of fully unstructured addresses, originally planned for 15 November 2026, has been postponed due to industry readiness concerns. This decision was made by SWIFT in August 2026, followed by the European Payments Council and Nordic Payments Council in September 2026. As a result, payments with unstructured addresses will continue to be processed in key infrastructure and schemes even after 15 November 2026. The new end date has not yet been determined. Nordea is assessing possible new timelines and will communicate the revised end date as soon as it is known.

Irrespective of the postponement, we recommend that you continue with address migration activities within your own organisation or in collaboration with your ERP vendor, using this delay as an opportunity to get ahead rather than a reason to pause.

 

ISO 20022 version upgrades

Parallel to address changes, Nordea is upgrading its file channels to support ISO 20022 version 2019 payment message standards. This latest standard for financial messaging brings richer data capabilities and improved fraud detection in payments.

Corporate Access users can already use the new version, with pain.001 and pain.002 version 2019 messages available since November 2025. Corporate Payment Services in Finland will introduce version 2019 support in November. Corporate eGateway will maintain ISO version 2009 standards while still accommodating the new address requirements.

The upgrade introduces valuable new data elements, including unique end-to-end transaction references (UETR) and Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI), providing greater transparency throughout the payment flow.

Preparing for change

Organisations should begin reviewing their ERP systems immediately to ensure compliance. Key actions:

  • Distribute unstructured address information into specific, structured elements
  • For Swift Score users: Address details must be given only in option F in Request for Transfers (MT101). Note that MT101 will no longer be supported in the interbank space after November 2027. Nordea will replace it with pain.001 messages.
  • For future dated payments, only use hybrid or structured address formats, while initiating payments, once the revised timeline takes effect.

Moving forward

Early preparation is crucial. Organisations should:

  • Engage with their ERP providers
  • Review current payment processes
  • Consider upgrading to newer ISO versions where available

Other changes impacting cash management in 2026

  • Denmark will discontinue local file format UTF/EDI4 for cross-border payments.
  • Sweden’s Corporate File Payments service will be decommissioned.
  • Norway will implement AML ACT requirements for personal identification numbers.
  • Finland will close manual payment file uploads to Corporate Payment Service. 

Nordea has established a dedicated “Upcoming changes in cash management” page on our website, providing continuous updates on payment-related modifications.

In case you missed the webinar, please reach out to your cash management representative to receive the recorded version.

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