Wire Migration Information

FED Migration to ISO20022

The Federal Reserve's Fedwire Funds Service is scheduled to transition to the ISO20022 messaging format on July 14th, 2025. The single-day implementation will replace the existing proprietary FAIM format, aiming to enhance payment processing efficiency, enrich data content, and improve compliance with regulatory requirements such as sanctions screening and anti-money laundering methods. It is important to note that this is a change implemented by the Federal Reserve, not directly from First Financial Bank. Find the formatting changes below and frequently asked questions that cover the migration at hand:

Key Terminology Changes

New Term (Old Term)

  • Creditor (Wire Recipient Name)

  • Debtor (Originator)

  • Debtor & Instructing Agent (Originating Bank)

  • Creditor Agent (Beneficiary Bank)

  • Instructed Agent (Domestic Intermediary)

  • Agent ID (Routing Number)

  • End to End ID (Reference Beneficiary)

  • Building Number and Street Name (Address)

  • Department, Sub Department, Building Name etc. (Address 2)

  • Town Name, Country Subdivision, Post Code, Country (City, State, Zip)

  • Remittance Information (Additional Information)

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The Federal Reserve Banks currently use a proprietary wire format specific to the Fedwire Funds Service. They are replacing the existing FAIM format (Fedwire Application Interface Manual) with the ISO 20022 format, which is a global standard adopted by many financial institutions.

  • All wires sent through the Federal Reserve must be in compliance with ISO 20022 standards before the deadline. There are significant changes to the wire format and field labels associated with this migration.

  • The Federal Reserve will switch to ISO 20022 from FAIM on July 14, 2025. All wires sent on or after this date must be in the new ISO format.

  • Good catch! You should plan to review your Creditors (Wire Recipient Name) BEFORE Day 1, especially those that are tied to any recurring wires. Please add the Creditor’s address prior to July 14, 2025.

    • As there isn’t a 1:1 ratio between FAIM and ISO fields, we’re only able to bring over limited amounts of data for wires. The biggest difference are the address fields, and for those changes we will be moving the information from Address Line 1 (FAIM) to Street Name (ISO). There is a 70-character limit for the Street Name field. Any Address Line 1 entries will be truncated as necessary.
    • For Domestic wires only: not all of the new and segmented address fields are required, so if the data is slightly off the wire should still be able to be sent if the following required fields have not changed:
      Agent ID (Bank ID)
      Agent Name (Bank Name) 
      Agent City (Bank City) 
      Agent State (Bank State) 
      Account Number
      City/Town Name (City) 
      Agent Country

  • In general for the Wire Origination system you access each day, only the fields and their labels are changing. There are many behind-the-scenes changes, but don’t worry – we’ll take care of those for you! The main change will be the terminology.