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MESSAGE: pacs.008 FI to FI Customer Credit Transfer

The ISO 20022 pacs.008 message is used in Nexus as the payment instruction.

For further detail on each element in the pacs.008, please refer to the Message Guidelines (Excel).

Intermediary Agents

The Intermediary Agent elements of the pacs.008 are used define the Settlement Account Providers (SAPs) at which an FX Provider holds their funds. Payments flow from the Source PSP to the Source SAP, and then from the Destination SAP to the Destination PSP.

Source PSPs must use the API operation GET /quotes/{quoteId}/intermediary-agents to retrieve details of the intermediary agents, and then copy this information into the pacs.008.

Exchange Rate

The exchange rate is recorded in the element:

… > Credit Transfer Transaction Information > Exchange Rate

This is the exchange rate that the FXP charges to the Source PSP. It is applied to Interbank Settlement Amount in the Source Currency, to determine what should be debited from the Destination SAP and transferred to the Destination PSP in the destination currency.

Note that this exchange rate is not the same as the effective exchange rate that is shown to the Sender, which is calculated by dividing the amount credited to the Recipient by the amount debited from the Sender.

The Nexus project team have submitted a change request to the ISO 20022 Standards Evaluation Group proposing a better way to track FX Providers and FX-related information (Change Request 1379 at ISO20022.org). If this is accepted and implemented in 2025, these documents will be updated with the new guidelines.

Amounts

  • The information about amounts included in the Nexus payment elements (in bold) as follows:

    • Instructed Amount = the exact amount debited from the Sender's account by the Source PSP, denominated in the Source Currency

    • Interbank Settlement Amount (in Source Currency) = the amount transferred from the Source PSP to the Source SAP. This is the Instructed Amount minus the Source PSP (Deducted) Fee. (See Fees.)

    • Interbank Settlement Amount (in Destination Currency) = the amount transferred from the Destination SAP to the Destination PSP. This is calculated by Nexus before the payment is sent to the Destination IPS. This is the Interbank Settlement Amount in the Source Currency multiplied by the Exchange Rate applicable to the transaction (based on the quote received from the FX Provider)

    • The amount credited to the Recipient is calculated by taking the Interbank Settlement Amount (in Destination Currency) and deducting the Destination PSP Deducted Fee, which is recorded in ChargesInformation/Amount (see below). Nexus calculates and provides the applicable Destination PSP fee in the response to the GET /quotes/ API (or the GET /creditor-agent-fee API - see Fees for further information.

Charges Information

Fees deducted by the Source PSP and Destination PSP must be recorded in the Charges section of the pacs.008 payment instruction; see Fees for further details. (The complete fee model and the requirements are detailed in the Nexus Scheme Rulebook.)

  • The Source PSP may charge a Deducted Fee by making a deduction from the amount debited from the Sender.

    • The Source PSP Deducted Fee is by definition the difference between Instructed Amount and Interbank Settlement Amount.

  • The Destination PSP must charge a Deducted Fee before crediting the Recipient.

    • The Destination PSP is determined according to a formula set by the Nexus Scheme, and is calculated by Nexus and shared with the Source PSP when they call the GET /quotes API operation (or a separate GET /creditor-agent-fee in the case that the Source PSP is also the FX Provider.

Both of these fees must be recorded (by the Source PSP) in the pacs.008 payment instruction as follows:

  • FI To FI Customer Credit Transfer > Credit Transfer Transaction Information >

    • Charge Bearer = SHAR

    • Charges Information [1]

      • Agent = Source PSP

      • Amount = Source PSP Deducted Fee

        • (Ccy = Source Currency)

    • Charges Information [2]

      • Agent = Destination PSP

      • Agent = Destination PSP Deducted Fee

        • (Ccy = Destination Currency)

If the Source PSP chooses not to charge the Source PSP Deducted Fee, it should still include the Charges Amount information with the amount set to zero.

Remittance Information

Nexus message guidelines permit the use of both the structured and unstructured remittance elements. The remittance elements cater for 140 characters of unstructured data, or structured remittance data. Nexus forwards the remittance elements unaltered.

The Structured Remittance element enables automated reconciliation by the Recipient between receivables and payments. It is recommended that the Recipient adopts the ISO 11649 Standard for a ‘structured creditor reference to the remittance information’ as the preferred remittance data convention for identifying payment referring to a single invoice.

The remittance data supplied by the Sender in the Nexus transaction must be forwarded in full and without alteration by the Source PSP, the SAPs involved and the IPSOs, to the Destination PSP.

When the Sender provides a Structured Creditor Reference, it is recommended that the Source PSP checks the correctness of the Structured Creditor Reference at the point of capture by the Sender.

For the Additional Remittance Information element, note that one of the three possible occurrences in the message is reserved for the Nexus FX Quote Id (see next section).

The Destination PSP must also deliver received remittance data in full and without alteration to the Creditor.

FX Quote ID

The Quote Id is provided by the response to the GET /quotes API operation. The quote ID is a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID).

The FX Quote ID retrieved by the Source PSP during the payment setup phase must be included in the pacs.008 payment instruction submitted to Nexus. The structured remittance element must contain the full FX Quote ID in the additional remittance information element.

Specifically, the FX Quote ID must be provided in the Additional Remittance Information element in the Structured section of the Remittance information, with the added prefix “NexusFXQuoteId" following by a colon.

<RmtInf>
    <Strd>
        <AddtlRmtInf>
NexusFXQuoteId:40fe970a-2f78-42a8-95a4-d09fa5f3b57f
        </AddtlRmtInf>
    </Strd>
</RmtInf>

The above solution is a compromise given limitations of the current ISO 20022 pacs.008 message structure. The Nexus project team have submitted a change request to the ISO 20022 Standards Evaluation Group proposing a better way to track FX Providers and FX-related information - see Change Request 1379 at ISO20022.org

The presence of the FX Quote ID is validated by Nexus and is used by Nexus to validate the exchange rate applied to the payment.

If no FX Quote ID is present, Nexus will validate that the Source PSP “owns” or has right to make payments from the Destination SAP, as defined in the Intermediary Agent 2 block.)

Up to three recurrences of the Additional Remittance Information element are allowed in a Nexus message. Two recurrences are free to use for other purposes.

Message Transformation by Nexus

Nexus must transform certain values in the pacs.008 before it is sent to the Destination Country:

  • Clearing System – updated from the Source IPS to the Destination IPS

  • Interbank Settlement Amount – converted from the source currency amount to the Destination Currency Amount, at the exchange rate defined in the message (and validated against the original FX Quote ID)

Nexus also updates the position of the following parties in the pacs.008 to create an instruction that can be processed by the Destination IPS:

Security techniques are used to enable the Destination IPS to verify that the message was only updated by Nexus and has not been tampered with.

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