payments

ISO 20022 and the Ripple Lawsuit: The Future of Global Finance

Posted on by Rand Preston
Photo: John McArthur

In recent years, the world of finance has been rapidly evolving, and one of the most significant developments has been the adoption of the ISO 20022 standard for financial messaging. This standard has been adopted by many financial institutions around the world, and it is seen as a game-changer for the industry. However, the ongoing legal battle between the SEC and Ripple may have an impact on the future of global finance, and it is worth exploring what this means for the industry.

What is ISO 20022?

ISO 20022 is a standard for financial messaging that allows for more efficient and effective communication between financial institutions. It is designed to replace the existing messaging standards that have been in use for many years, which are often outdated and inefficient. ISO 20022 is a comprehensive standard that covers all aspects of financial messaging, including payment initiation, account reporting, and transaction processing.

The adoption of ISO 20022 is expected to bring significant benefits to the financial industry. It will allow for faster, more secure, and more accurate transactions, reducing the risk of errors and fraud. It will also make it easier for financial institutions to communicate with each other, reducing the need for manual intervention and improving the overall efficiency of the system.

The Impact of the SEC vs Ripple Lawsuit

The SEC vs Ripple lawsuit is a legal battle that has been ongoing since 2020. The SEC has accused Ripple, a blockchain-based payments company, of conducting an unregistered securities offering by selling its XRP token. Ripple has denied these allegations and has argued that XRP is not a security but a digital currency like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

The outcome of this lawsuit could have significant implications for the adoption of ISO 20022 in the financial industry. If the SEC is successful in its case against Ripple, it could set a precedent for other blockchain-based companies and tokens. This could lead to increased regulation and scrutiny of these companies and could slow down the adoption of new technologies in the financial industry.

On the other hand, if Ripple is successful in its defense, it could pave the way for more blockchain-based companies to operate without the same level of regulatory oversight. This could lead to increased innovation in the financial industry and could accelerate the adoption of new technologies such as ISO 20022.

It is also worth noting that the adoption of ISO 20022 could have implications for the regulation of cryptocurrencies and digital assets. As more financial institutions adopt this standard, it could become easier for regulators to monitor and regulate these assets, which could lead to increased adoption and legitimacy.

Conclusion

In conclusion, ISO 20022 is a significant development in the financial industry, and its adoption is expected to bring many benefits to financial institutions around the world. However, the ongoing legal battle between the SEC and Ripple could have an impact on the future of global finance and the adoption of new technologies such as ISO 20022. It is important to monitor this situation closely and to consider the potential implications for the industry.

Best,

Rand

*Not investment advice. I am not a financial advisor, just someone intrigued with the intricacies of the global financial marketplace. Perform your own research before making investment decisions.

Sources:

  1. “ISO 20022: The New Global Standard For Financial Messaging,” FinTech Futures, September 3, 2020, https://www.fintechfutures.com/2020/09/iso-20022-the-new-global-standard-for-financial-messaging/.
  2. “SEC v. Ripple,” U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, https://www.sec.gov/litigation/ripple-labs-inc.
  3. “How the SEC vs. Ripple Lawsuit May Impact the Future of Cryptocurrency,” The Motley Fool, February 17, 2021, https://www.fool.com/investing/2021/02/17/how-the-sec-vs-ripple-lawsuit-may-impact-the-futur/.

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World Economic Forum and ISO 20022

Posted on by Rand Preston
Photo: Krzysztof Hepner

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has been actively promoting the adoption of ISO 20022 as a global standard for financial messaging. This is done through various initiatives and partnerships with financial institutions, central banks, technology companies, and standard-setting bodies.

The WEF believes that the adoption of ISO 20022 can improve the efficiency and security of financial transactions, reduce costs and errors, and create new opportunities for innovation.

The WEF also supports the development of the standard by providing a platform for stakeholders to share best practices and collaborate on implementation efforts. Additionally, the WEF also works to raise awareness of ISO 20022 and its benefits among policymakers, regulators, and other stakeholders in the financial services industry.

Ripple is a technology company that provides a blockchain-based payment protocol, called XRP Ledger, that facilitates cross-border payments and money transfers.

Ripple’s technology is built on the ISO 20022 standard. By using the ISO 20022 standard, Ripple’s payment protocol can communicate with other financial systems and organizations, making it easier for banks, payment providers, and other financial institutions to exchange information and process transactions.

This allows Ripple’s payment protocol to facilitate cross-border payments in a more efficient and secure way. Additionally, Ripple is also a member of the ISO 20022 Registration Management Group (RMG) which is a group of experts from the financial industry and standardization bodies that helps to develop and maintain the ISO 20022 standard.

Rand

I am not a financial advisor. Do your own research before investing.

Money is Moving Faster. Time for you to Understand.

Posted on by Rand Preston
Image: CHUTTERSNAP

As the world move closer to widespread adoption of ISO 20022, the future standard for international transactions, what can we expect from the cryptocurrency world? For one, it is unlikely that major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) will be used for conducting cross-border transactions. Not only is Bitcoin built on a proof-or-work consensus, but its transaction time is exceedingly slow compared to other projects in the fintech space. Bitcoin is also not currently an ISO 20022 compliant digital asset.

Of the thousands of cryptocurrencies in existence, the following currently comply with the ISO 20022 standard: (courtesy cryptopolitan.com)

One only needs to visit the ISO 20022 website to dive deeply in the guts of the project. Here, you can explore the many members of the standards committees across the five domains that the standard will address. The business domains are: payments, securities, cards and related retail financial services, foreign exchange, and trade services.

As far as the ISO standard’s syntax, the most widely used is eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML). This is not to be confused with the digital asset minted by Steller, the Lumen (XLM). The reason for using this syntax is simple, it is the most widely used method for encoding documents electronically.

Real Time Gross Settlement processing (RTGS) is speeding up the movement of money. It facilitates the electronic movement of money from bank to bank in seconds, settling out with near immediacy. This enhancement of transaction speed creates new levels of liquidity by freeing up funds that would otherwise be used as nostro/vostro or delayed settlement through old messaging systems, such as SWIFT MT. Follow this link to see a timeline of the adoption for ISO 20022 and RTGS across the globe.

Image Source: Compact

The ISO 20022 project is over a decade old and quickly approaching unilateral adoption across the global monetary system. Referring back to the five business practices gives you a good understanding of the impact that the world of finance will experience in the coming months. While many cryptocurrency projects are left seemingly unaffected, watch for the legal outcome of one particular company engaged in the global payment remittances sector, Ripple. While the US Securities Exchange Commission is trying to convince the legal system that the cryptocurrency XRP was sold as an unregistered security, the digital asset XRP does comply with the ISO 20022 standard and the company Ripple is on the ISO 20022 Payment Standards Evaluation Board as an expert for one of the five business practices: payments.

Best,

Rand

This is not investment advice. I am not an investment advisor. This is for entertainment and informational purposes. Consult a licensed financial advisor before trading.

Blockchain Impacts – Understanding ISO 20022

Posted on by Rand Preston
Photo: NASA

Most people have never heard of SWIFT, nor do they have any idea of how money have moved around the globe for the past 40+ years. Regardless of catching up to speed now, the world of international payments is about to receive a major overhaul. There is a massive amount of information regarding this standard and by 2025, all financial institutions will have to be able to process ISO 20022 compliant payments. The five business domains that ISO 20022 covers are: payments, securities, cards and related retail financial services, FX (foreign exchange), and trade services.

The new standard, currently in an opt-in phase, will allow for open and transparent messaging between financial institutions around the globe. Within the new syntax-rich messaging system is a central repository containing the information necessary to support the various APIs.

In order to move the current financial messaging system from the existing legacy system, a team of dedicated professionals work to support the migration to the new system. This is a delicate transfer and must be performed with diligence, since not all institutions are migrating at the same time.

Putting it simply, all major currencies that exist have already adopted ISO 20022 or have a migration plan to adopt. The reason, in a nutshell, is the improved efficiency that this standard provides. End-to-end processing of payments messaging are streamlined, and delivery is straight forward. SWIFT MT has been the legacy system enabling payments to move around the globe since the 1970s. This will no longer be the case.

Interesting information about ISO 20022 can be found on the Payments Standards Evaluation Group page on the ISO 20022 website. Under the list of EXPERTS, two of the member entities listed in the column dominated by countries are in fact, not countries. These two member entities are SWIFT, the current legacy payments system, as well as Ripple. Ripple is a US based company deeply engrained in the development of RTGS (real-time gross settlement) digital ledger technology. Ripple is also embattled in a lawsuit that was brought on by the US Securities Exchange Commission in December of 2020. SWIFT is a registered expert on the list of all business domain experts while Ripple is on the list for payments.

If you are interested in the payments portion of the ISO 20022 standard, research ISO 20022 compliant digital assets. Any financial institutions that are processing payments on the SWIFT MT network will be switched over to the ISO 20022 standard by November 2022.

To understand the standard more intimately, I suggest viewing the standards website for the most specific information.

Best,

Rand

This is not investment advice. I am not an investment advisor. This is for informational and entertainment purposes. Consult an investment advisor.