Mandatory data in our ISO 20022 messages

Enhanced Data

Enhanced data is how we refer to the new additional data elements that we will include in our next generation NPA standard.

Throughout the NPA design process, we continually consulted our customers and assessed the outcomes and quantifiable benefits of mandatory data before making any decision. We further established a clear understanding of the liability that lies with us and others in the ecosystem in the event that a message is rejected for not including a specific data element.

Further to facilitating clearing and settlement, this data can unlock a wide range of beneficial outcomes for our customers and end users; it can provide you with the opportunity to leverage the benefits from ISO 20022 message alignment with other financial market infrastructures and retail interbank payment scheme operators.

These benefits can be achieved through increased consistency and automation from the identifiable enhanced data elements, and from the ability to leverage the extensive ISO 20022 data dictionary for ongoing innovation in the future.

Mandatory Data

Most enhanced data is currently optional. We define optional data as those elements that might be sent within a specific payment message by a submitter (e.g. for the benefit of end-user outcomes).

When we launch the NPA, however, there are some enhanced data elements that will be mandatory. We define mandatory data as those elements that must be sent within a specific message by a submitter (i.e. we require their inclusion using our standards and rules).

In this comprehensive, downloadable document we have outlined key particulars including the mandatory data elements for each ISO 20022 message used in the NPA, for example:

•  “Mandated in ISO”. ISO sets the precedent for specific mandatory fields that should not be changed, thereby introducing the first degree of interoperability; or
• “Mandated by Pay.UK”. Those data elements required for us to successfully process a message.

Additional standards technical collateral can be found on our portal, Standards Source.

Where applicable, the FPS Equivalent has been given for data elements to help customers who are transitioning from FPS to the NPA and ISO 20022 for pacs.008, pacs.002 and pacs.004. For further documentation regarding the Backwards Compatibility Mapping of NPA ISO 20022 messages to FPS equivalents, please see Standards Source.

The NPA Customer Agreement will be the legal documentation that confirms, through contractual arrangements, the mandatory data that must be adhered to.