Almaty, 10 March 2026

Eurasian Bank was one of the first among the second-tier banks to introduce the ISO 20022 international financial messaging standard for international payments.

Starting from January 2025, Kazakhstan’s banking system began operating in a new financial messaging format based on ISO 20022. The decision to implement the standard was made under the coordination of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Eurasian Bank fully integrated the new format for international payments at the end of 2024.  According to Gaziz Yermekov, Deputy CEO of Eurasian Bank, the introduction of the standard made it possible to increase the efficiency of international settlements.

“The transition to ISO 20022 accelerated the processing of international payments, reduced the number of clarifying requests from correspondent banks, and improved the accuracy of transactions. However, the full effect of the ISO 20022 implementation will only work when the majority of market participants join it. As soon as a critical mass of partners switch to the new standard, customers and banks will fully experience its benefits, from reducing transaction time to minimizing data errors.”

He also stressed that using the standard reduces operational and compliance risks.

“Faster transfer processing, less unstructured text, fewer manual clarifications, fewer delays and refunds, and a higher level of compliance, as AML systems better ‘see’ the customer. In other words, the risk of blockages due to unclear purpose is reduced. This is especially important when working through SWIFT, where transparency requirements are constantly being tightened,” he said.

In November 2025, the Bank also began processing camt.053 messages – bank statements in the ISO 20022 standard, although the global deadline for this format comes later.  But the proactive nature of the implementation was important to the Bank.

ISO 20022 is an international standard for financial messaging developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It is used by banks and financial organizations to transfer data on payments, transfers, and settlements.

The main difference between ISO 20022 and previous formats (for example, MT messages) is a more structured data transmission. The new standard allows including more information in payment instructions, minimizing manual processing, and speeding up international payments.

Today, Eurasian Bank transmits payment instructions immediately in the full ISO 20022 format without intermediate conversion from the outdated MT format. The standard is also applied to the automatic processing of refunds and the transmission of incoming payment statuses to a real-time transaction tracking system, including settlements in Russian rubles.

According to Gaziz Yermekov, the transition to ISO 20022 is an important stage in the development of the payment infrastructure.

“For corporate customers, this means more stable settlements and less uncertainty in international payments. For banks, it means strengthening their technological position and increasing their competitiveness in the international market,” he said.