ISO 20022-6:2013

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 20022-6
Second edition
2013-05-01
Financial services — Universal financial
industry message scheme —
Part 6:
Message transport characteristics
Services financiers — Schéma universel de messages pour
l’industrie financière —
Partie 6: Caractéristiques du transport de message
Reference number
©
ISO 2013
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ii © ISO 2013 – All rights reserved

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies
(ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO
technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been
established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and
non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards
adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an
International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent
rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO 20022-6 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 68, Financial services.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition (ISO 20022-6:2009), which has been technically revised.
ISO 20022 consists of the following parts, under the general title Financial services — Universal financial
industry message scheme:
— Part 1: Metamodel
— Part 2: UML profile
— Part 3: Modelling
— Part 4: XML Schema generation
— Part 5: Reverse engineering
— Part 6: Message transport characteristics
— Part 7: Registration
— Part 8: ASN.1 generation
ISO 20022-1:2013, ISO 20022-2:2013, ISO 20022-3:2013, ISO 20022-4:2013, ISO 20022-5:2013,
by no later than the end of May 2013, at which time support for the concepts set out within them will be effective.
Users and potential users of the ISO 20022 series are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the 2013 editions
as soon as possible, in order to understand their impact and take advantage of their content as soon as they are
implemented by the Registration Authority. For further guidance, please contact the Registration Authority.
For the purposes of research on financial industry message standards, users are encouraged to
share their views on ISO 20022:2013 and their priorities for changes to future editions Second editionof the
2013-05-01
document. Click on the link below to take part in the online survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/20022_2013
Introduction
This International Standard defines a scalable, methodical process to ensure consistent descriptions of
messages throughout the financial services industry.
The purpose of this International Standard is to describe precisely and completely the externally observable
aspects of financial services messaging in a way that can be verified independently against operational messaging.
The trigger for the creation of this International Standard was the rapid growth in the scale and sophistication
of messaging within financial services during the 1990s using ISO 15022. The financial services industry (from
hereon referred to as “the industry”) created the first version of this International Standard as the successor to
ISO 15022 in response to that trigger. Since ISO 15022, the industry has broadened the scope from securities
to the entire industry for this International Standard.
This International Standard is based on open technology standards, which historically have evolved more rapidly
than the industry itself. Consequently, this International Standard adopted a model-driven approach where the
model of the industry’s messaging can evolve separately from the evolution of the messaging technology
standards. The period during which this International Standard has emerged followed the widespread adoption
of the World Wide Web (the Web) for business. XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language) emerged as the de facto
standard for document representation on the Web and it became the first syntax for ISO 20022.
The modelling process is further refined into three levels which, in addition to the messaging technology
standard, is why this International Standard is based on four levels: the Scope level, the Conceptual level, the
Logical level and the Physical level.
This four-level approach is based on the first four levels of the Zachman Framework. The remaining two levels
of the Zachman Framework are equivalent to the implementations and the operational levels, respectively.
In this part of ISO 20022, the first, second and third levels are described in UML (Unified Modelling Language)
because it is widely supported and supports multiple levels of abstraction. The models created in accordance
with this International Standard are technology independent in that they do not require any particular physical
expression or implementation. Such models aim to describe all parts of the message exchange. The models form
the definition of the protocol between participants exchanging messages. This International Standard defines a
method that describes a process by which these models can be created and maintained by the modellers.
The models and the Physical level artefacts are stored in a central repository, serviced by a Registration
Authority. This International Standard’s repository is available on the World Wide Web and offers public access
for browsing.
The Repository is organized into two areas:
— A DataDictionary containing the industry model elements likely to have further or repeated use.
— A BusinessProcessCatalogue that contains models describing specific message definitions and business
processes, and physical syntax implementations.
This International Standard is organized into the following parts.
— ISO 20022-1 describes in MOF (Meta-Object Facility) the metamodel of all the models and the Repository.
— ISO 20022-2 covers the UML profile, a grounding of general UML into a specific subset defined for this
International Standard (to be used when UML is selected to define the models).
— ISO 20022-3 describes a modelling method to produce models for this International Standard.
— ISO 20022-4 covers XML schema generation rules to transform a Logical level model into a Physical level
description in the syntaxes.
— ISO 20022-5 covers logical model alignment and reverse engineering of existing message syntaxes.
— This part of ISO 20022 covers message transport characteristics that define the quality of service required
by the business process definitions so that they can operate successfully.
iv © ISO 2013 – All rights reserved

— ISO 20022-7 describes the process of managing the registration of models and physical syntax
implementations.
— ISO 20022-8 gives ASN.1 syntax generation rules to transform a Logical level model into a Physical level
description in ASN.1.
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 20022-6:2013(E)
Financial services — Universal financial industry message
scheme —
Part 6:
Message transport characteristics
1 Scope
This part of ISO 20022 specifies the characteristics of the MessageTransportSystem required for an ISO 20022
BusinessTransaction and MessageDefinition. Changes to the value of the MessageTransport Characteristics
can affect the BusinessTransaction and MessageDefinition.
Each BusinessTransaction in the ISO 20022 Repository is associated with a MessageTransportMode. The
MessageTransportMode specifies the values for the MessageTransportCharacteristics.
This part of ISO 20022 specifically does not define the wire-level interoperability of message transports. The
overall structure is of a layered specification so that ISO 20022 can be implemented over many message
transports. This part of ISO 20022 defines only those characteristics required for interoperability at the business
process and message level.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document
(including any amendments) applies.
ISO 20022-1, Financial services — Universal financial industry message scheme — Part 1: Metamodel
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO 20022-1 and the following apply.
3.1
Business Layer
higher or upper layer of the protocol hierarchy that is used to exchange ISO 20022 Messages
NOTE Two layers are defined: a MessageTransport Layer and a Business Layer. The Business Layer is concerned
with the business process independently of the mechanics of messaging; effectively independently of technology. The
MessageTransport Layer is concerned with the mechanics of messaging; effectively independently of the business process.
3.2
MessageInstance Header
first logical part of the MessageInstance, required to be processed before the rest of the MessageInstance
NOTE It contains information that is common/relevant to any MessageInstance; as such, it is independent of the
message functionality.
EXAMPLE The identification of the sender of the MessageInstance.
3.3
Messaging Application Layer
layer immediately beneath the bottom layer of ISO 20022
NOTE This is the Open System Interconnection (OSI) Layer 7 application that delivers messages (see 4.1).
EXAMPLE Examples of applications at the Messaging Application Layer are AMQP, ftp, http and SOAP,
WebsphereMQ, or SonicMQ.
3.4
Name
identifier of something
NOTE 1 A Name is “pure”, that is it shall be used for no purpose other than to identify something.
NOTE 2 Business logic shall not be based on anything about a name other than its identity.
4 Exchange of messages in ISO 20022
4.1 Layered protocol
The protocol that is used for exchanging ISO 20022 messages is defined as being in two layers sitting directly
above the seven layers of the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model.
— The higher or upper layer is named the Business Layer and deals with MessageInstances. The
exchange of MessageInstances is fully described in the Message Choreography and the structure of the
MessageInstances is fully described by the MessageDefinitions and related MessageRules, Rules and
MarketPractices. All of these shall be registered in the ISO 20022 Repository. The Business Layer is
equivalent to adding a Layer 9 to the OSI model.
— The lower or bottom layer is named the MessageTransport Layer and deals with TransportMessages. The
implementation of the MessageTransport Layer may vary and is therefore outside the scope of ISO 20022.
The behaviour and structure of the TransportMessages shall therefore not be registered in the ISO 20022
Repository. The Transport Characteristics apply to the Message Transport Layer. The MessageTransport
Layer is equivalent to adding a Layer 8 to the OSI model.
— The layer immediately beneath and therefore outside the ISO 20022 Protocol is the Application Layer.
This is the Messaging Application layer. ISO 20022 allows any Messaging Application that will support the
requirements of the MessageTransport Layer. The Messaging Application Layer is Layer 7 of the OSI model.
NOTE ISO 7498-1 is referred to as “OSI” throughout this part of ISO 20022.
4.2 Layering principles
A single new MessageInstance is created, by the sending business application, for each business event, i.e.
each interaction in a BusinessTransaction. A MessageInstance adheres to the following principles.
— A MessageInstance shall not contain information about the MessageTransportSystem or the mechanics or
mechanism of message sending, transportation, Address, or receipt.
— A MessageInstance shall be comprehensible outside of the context of the Transport Message. That is, the
MessageInstance shall not require knowledge of the Transport Message to be understood.
— A MessageInstance is fully described by its MessageDefinition.
— A MessageInstance refers to Business Participants by their Name. Each instance of a Business Participant has
one Name. The instance of the Business Participant shall not be referred to in the MessageTransport Layer.
A new Transport Message is created each time a MessageInstance is published by a sending Message
Endpoint. A Transport Message adheres to the following principles.
— A TransportMessage will have a body which only contains the MessageInstance.
— A TransportMessage may contain headers, footers and envelopes that are meaningful for the transport
and shall not contain information about the business process. As these headers, footers and envelopes
are implementation specific, they shall not be registered in the ISO 20022 Repository.
2 © ISO 2013 – All rights reserved

— A Transport Message is published by one Messaging Endpoint and received at zero to many
MessagingEndpoints. Each MessagingEndpoint is identified by one Address. The Messaging Endpoint is
referred to in the Message Transport Layer by its Address. The Messaging Endpoint shall not be referred
to in the Business Layer.
A Business Participant shall be able to change its association with Messaging Endpoints
...