Bank of Tanzania has held a meeting with commercial banks that uses SWIFT system for conducting financial transactions from one bank to another.

The meeting which was held today at Bank of Tanzania Conference Centre in Dar es Salaam, revolved around a project to transition from the ISO 15022 messaging standard to ISO 20022.

During his presentation, Senior Principal Computer Analyst/Programmer from Directorate of National Payment Systems (DNPS), Mr. Filbert Sumaye, stated that the purpose of the meeting was to update stakeholders on the project's progress and enhance payment systems to facilitate transactions using the new ISO 20022 standards.

Sumaye explained that the benefits resulting from the implementation of this project include enabling all commercial banks to receive ISO 20022 messages by May 2024. In this system, stakeholders can create, send, receive, contribute, and respond to messages, thereby obtaining accurate and timely information.

Furthermore, the entire world is expected to adopt the ISO 20022 system, which will enhance international standards and uphold safeguards in the fight against money laundering. ISO 20022 is a global standard for financial services designed to use a common language for exchanging financial messages and data.

As of May 2024, all commercial banks will have the capability to receive ISO 20022 messages, leading to increased efficiency in international standards and reinforcing the fight against financial crimes like money laundering. ISO 20022 serves as a universal language for exchanging financial messages and data.