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Hybrid & Structured Address Migration

Guidance on Hybrid and Structured Address requirements, client impacts, required actions and implementation ahead of the November 2026 industry deadlines.

Overview

We are introducing support for Hybrid and Structured Address formats across applicable payment initiation methods, beneficiary management and account-related services.

As part of the industry-wide ISO20022 address migration in November 2026, applicable payment schemes and message types are replacing fully unstructured postal addresses with Hybrid and Structured Address formats: Town Name and Country Code become mandatory structured address fields.

📘

Our existing address requirements remain unchanged. Where Hybrid or Structured Address requirements apply, you must also provide Town Name and Country Code using structured fields.

Impacted Address areas

The Hybrid and Structured Address requirements apply to both debtor and creditor address information, where required by the applicable payments, and will apply to the following parties:

  • Debtor
  • Ultimate Debtor
  • Creditor
  • Ultimate Creditor

You should ensure that Town Name and Country Code are populated for the relevant parties and payment flows.

Related documentation

The following documentation provides implementation details for each channel:

Why is this changing?

Payment schemes are adopting ISO20022-aligned address standards, replacing fully unstructured postal addresses with Hybrid and Structured Address formats.

This improves how address data is captured and processed across the payments ecosystem.

Benefits

  • Improved consistency of address data across schemes and messages
  • Reduced payment repairs, delays, and rejections
  • Enhanced screening and compliance processing
  • Alignment with evolving scheme and infrastructure requirements

Timeline

Implementation guidance, documentation and sandbox support are available to help you prepare for the November 2026 industry migration deadlines.

Mandatory validation of the Hybrid and Structured Address requirements will be enforced from the start of November 2026.

Address formats

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Town Name and Country Code are mandatory fields where Hybrid or Structured Address is used.

We supports both Hybrid Address and Structured Address formats.

Where Structured Address is supported, it is the recommended format. Where Hybrid Address is used, meaningful address information must be provided in addition to Town Name and Country Code.

Existing address validation requirements remain unchanged.

Hybrid Address

A Hybrid Address combines free-text address lines with structured address fields.

Where a Hybrid Address is used, the following elements must be provided:

FieldExample
Address Line 1–210 Downing Street
Town NameLondon
Country CodeGB

Structured Address

Structured Address represents address information using structured fields instead of free-text address lines.

Supported fields include:

FieldExample
Street NameBaker Street
Building Number221B
Building NameSherlock House
Post CodeNW1 6XE
Town NameLondon
Country CodeGB

Structured Address is the recommended format for clients adopting ISO20022-aligned implementations.

Example

Address Line 1: 10 Downing Street  
Town Name: London  
Country Code: GB
Street Name: Baker Street  
Building Number: 221B  
Town Name: London  
Post Code: NW1 6XE  
Country Code: GB

Applicable payments

All payment flows are subject to the new hybrid address requirements.

For all external outgoing payments:

  • Existing address validation requirements remain unchanged.
  • Town Name and Country Code must additionally be provided using the dedicated structured fields.
  • Requests that do not meet mandatory address requirements will fail validation before payment processing.

Validation behaviour will be enabled in accordance with our implementation timelines and communicated separately.

Internal Payments

The Hybrid and Structured Address requirements do not apply to Internal Payments.

Internal Payments are payments between accounts held within Banking Circle and do not leave the Banking Circle network.

Address information remains optional for these payment flows and no additional Town Name or Country Code validation is applied.

Routing based exceptions

Certain payment flows may be excluded from Hybrid and Structured Address validation based on the routing information provided.

  • FPS and NPP payments initiated using Service Level [INST] are excluded from Hybrid and Structured Address validation requirements. In these cases, Town Name and Country Code are not mandatory.
  • If Service Level [INST] is omitted or populated incorrectly, the payment becomes subject to the standard address validation rules and the applicable Hybrid or Structured Address requirements.

Payment Initiation (API, SFTP, UI and SWIFT)

What is changing?

Payment initiation APIs and SFTP channels have been extended to support the following structured fields :

  • Town Name
  • Country Code

pain.001.001.09

The pain.001.001.09 implementation supports the full structured address model, including

  • Town Name
  • Country Code
  • Street Name
  • Building Number
  • Building Name
  • Post Code

Structured Address is the recommended approach for clients adopting ISO20022 structured addresses.

📘

Currently, Town Name and Country Code fields are available and optional and are not yet enforced in payment validation. Existing address requirements remain unchanged. These fields will become mandatory for applicable payment flows as part of the ISO20022 address migration.

You may populate these fields in preparation for future enforcement.

SWIFT

This requirement also applies to payment initiation via the SWIFT channel. You must ensure that SWIFT payment messages include Town Name and Country Code where required under applicable Hybrid or Structured Address rules.

Action Required

  • Update payment initiation requests to populate Town Name and Country Code.
  • Continue to provide existing address information where required.
  • Ensure Faster Payments and NPP instructions use Service Level [INST] where applicable.
  • Ensure SWIFT payment initiation requests comply with applicable Hybrid or Structured Address requirements.
  • Prepare for mandatory Structured Address enforcement ahead of industry deadlines.

Predefined Beneficiaries

What is changing?

Beneficiary address information will be extended with:

  • Town Name
  • Country Code

Action Required

  • Existing beneficiaries : Review existing beneficiary records and update address information where required.
  • New beneficiaries : Ensure newly created beneficiaries include Town Name and Country Code using the structured address fields.

Support for these fields will be made available. Further updates will be communicated through the relevant documentation and release updates.

Virtual Accounts

What is changing?

Virtual Account customer address records have been extended to support the following structured fields:

  • Town Name
  • Country Code

Applicable flows:

  • Order Virtual Accounts
  • Add customer details
  • Modify customer details (Currently supports Hybrid and Structured elements)

Action Required

  • Existing Virtual Accounts : Review and update existing Virtual Account customer address information.
  • Ordering New Virtual Accounts : Ensure newly created Virtual Accounts include Town Name and Country Code using structured fields.

Currently, support is available for Modify customer details

Support for additional Virtual Account flows will be made available separately. Further updates will be communicated through the relevant documentation and release updates.

Physical/Master Accounts

What is changing?

No changes apply for Physical aka your Master Accounts with us.

We will manage required address information for Banking Circle-issued Physical or Master Accounts.

Action Required

No action is required.

GET Endpoints, Reports & Webhooks

No impact applies to GET endpoints, reports, or webhooks.

Technical considerations

Length

Some address fields may be subject to a maximum length of 35 characters due to constraints in parts of the payment processing chain.

Supported Character set

We currently supports the SWIFT X character set. Extended character support introduced with ISO20022 and CBPR+ is not currently supported.

Client Action Checklist

  • Review payment initiation integrations
  • Ensure support for Town Name and Country Code structured fields
  • Review existing predefined beneficiary records and update where required
  • Review existing Virtual Account customer records and update
  • Test changes in sandbox environment
  • No action is required for Physical or Master Accounts

Need Help?

Please contact your Relationship Manager or Client Services team if you require assistance with planning, testing, or implementing these changes.