The BIS Innovation Hub and the Bank of England have developed a prototype analytical tool designed to leverage the richer payments data generated by the ISO 20022 payments messaging protocol.
The growing adoption of the ISO 20022 standard for payment messages in Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems and other market infrastructures indicates that many jurisdictions will implement this protocol in the near future. Currently, 93% of payment system operators have either adopted ISO 20022 or are in the process of doing so.
In response to concerns about inconsistent application of the international messaging standard across different jurisdictions, the Bank for International Settlements’ Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) has published harmonized ISO 20022 data requirements.
The prototype, known as Project Keystone, aims to mitigate these concerns. It consists of two modules: the first addresses the complexities of managing the ISO 20022 data structure and its storage requirements, while the second provides analytical capabilities based on this data.
Keystone is envisioned as an off-the-shelf component that payment system operators can integrate into their existing systems to fully utilize the richer payments data.
Potential use cases for central banks and authorities include enhanced insights into real-time economic conditions, system liquidity, and participant compliance with ISO 20022 standards.
Currently, Keystone focuses on a limited range of analytical use cases derived from the new payment standard. Future enhancements may include expanding the number of pre-built analytic cases and incorporating additional data to enrich the payment messages. For instance, integrating data from Business Identifier Codes (BICs) and Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) could improve understanding of the entities involved in transactions.