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On June 21, 2026, the Central Bank of Egypt announced that the Egyptian banking sector will adopt the ISO 20022 international standard for SWIFT messaging in interbank financial transfers, effective immediately. Hassan Abdallah, governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, said the transition represents a fundamental shift in modernising Egypt's digital payment infrastructure in line with international best practices. The ISO 20022 standard is the unified and most advanced international standard for financial messaging. It enhances settlement efficiency between banks through faster and more accurate processing, while improving the quality of transfer data by enabling additional information to be included in transactions. This capability streamlines cross-border payments by providing standardised data that facilitates automated processing and reduces manual intervention, thereby accelerating transaction execution and improving operational efficiency. The standard strengthens banks' capacity to automatically screen transactions according to international and local anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing recommendations, making this upgrade a strategic necessity for facilitating cross-border payments and enabling seamless integration with regional payment platforms. The adoption also supports modern financial services, including open banking and advanced data analytics, while enabling banks and financial institutions to develop innovative banking and financial products. The Central Bank of Egypt has updated its real-time settlement system to comply with this standard, positioning Egypt's payment infrastructure among the world's most advanced settlement systems and establishing it as a cornerstone of the country's digital financial services infrastructure.