BEAC Instruction N° 001/GR/2025 on Adopting ISO 20022 for CEMAC Payment Systems

BANQUE DES ETATS DE L'AFRIQUE CENTRALE (Bank of Central African States) INSTRUCTION No. 001/GR/2025 Adopting the ISO 20022 Standard for Payments in CEMAC Payment Systems

The Governor of the Bank of Central African States, Having regard to the Convention governing the Monetary Union of Central African States (UMAC); Having regard to the Statutes of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), particularly Article 1; Having regard to Regulation No. 03/02ICEMAC/BEAC/CM of March 15, 2002, approving the Regional Financial Standardization Committee (CORENOFI); Having regard to Regulation No. 03/16/CEMAC/BEAC/CM of December 21, 2016, on Payment Systems, Means, and Incidents; Considering the Constitutive Agreement of the Regional Financial Standardization Committee dated July 7, 2021; Considering the global migration of the International Financial Community to the ISO 20022 standard; Considering CORENOFI Resolution No. 002 of November 17, 2025; Considering the need to align the CEMAC financial system with standards and best practices in payment systems; Committed to ensuring the continuity of interoperability of CEMAC payment systems with the rest of the international financial community; Aware of the security and service continuity challenges associated with the global migration to ISO 20022.

The following participants in the Central Bank's systems are notably concerned:
Article 1. - The ISO 20022 standard, under the ISO Accelerator Pack variant (abbreviated "IAP"), is established in CEMAC payment systems.
Article 2. - This Instruction applies to all regulated entities of the CEMAC financial system, whose payment platforms interact with the payment and settlement systems managed by BEAC, namely the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system known as SYGMA (Automated Large-Value System) and SYSTAC2.

• credit institutions;
• microfinance institutions;
• payment institutions;
• interbank payment system managers authorized by the Central Bank (BEAC);
• Public Treasuries;
• Financial Services of National Postal Administrations;
• financial institutions.
  This Instruction also applies to any other entity that, within the framework of payment systems, interacts with SYGMA.
  Article 3. - The BEAC message formats of the ISO 20022 standard are as follows:
• SWIFT Cross Border Payment Reporting Plus (CBPR+) rules for international flows;
• BEAC_SYGMA_15020022 rules of SYGMA for domestic large-value flows;
• BEAC_SYSTAC ISO20022 rules of SYSTAC 2 for domestic retail flows.
  The BEAC_SYGMA_15020022 formats of messages exchanged in the Automated Large-Value System (SYGMA) are published on the portal https://www2.swift.com/mystandards/. The conditions and procedures for accessing this portal are specified by circular letter of the Central Bank.

Takes the Instruction with the following content:
Article 4. - Regulated entities of the CEMAC financial system take the necessary measures to align their processes with the formats established by this Instruction, in accordance with the regional migration schedule attached hereto. To this end, they comply with the technical specifications prescribed by the Central Bank.
Article 5. - The Central Bank, through its teams responsible for the SYSTAC2 and SYGMA V10 projects, provides technical support to participants as part of the migration to ISO 20022.
Article 6. - This Instruction may be clarified by a Circular Letter of the Central Bank.
Article 7. - This Instruction enters into force as of its signing date.

General Operations Directorate | Payment Systems and Means Department
SCHEDULE OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SYGMA MIGRATION TO ISO 20022 FORMAT
NOVEMBER 2025

#	Tasks	Deadline / Period	Responsible(s)	Observations
1	Validate various BEAC ISO 20022 formats at CORENOFI	NOV-25	BEAC
2	Transmit to participants documentation regarding SYGMA V10 formats	NOV-2025	BEAC
3	Organize a technical meeting with participants	JAN-2026	BEAC	The meeting aims to address participants' understanding needs and clarification requests regarding documentation prepared by the SYGMA V10 solution provider and the BEAC team in charge of formats. Participants are invited to submit clarification requests prior to the meeting.
4	Publish formats on BEAC's MyStandard platform and collect participants' membership requests	NOV-2025	BEAC	The MyStandard portal will allow banks, upon membership, to access BEAC's ISO 20022 message formats with use cases. It also provides banks with a space to iteratively test the compliance of messages generated by their Core banking systems.
5	Update Banking Information System (or connection platform, if applicable) to handle (send/receive) new SYGMA ISO 20022 message formats	NOV-FEB 2025/26	Participants	Each participant updates its Banking Information System (BIS) based on the BEAC_SYGMA_15020022 format and other transmitted documentation. The participant independently handles the interfacing of its BIS with the aforementioned system by utilizing the communicated documentation.
6	Raise awareness among participants and BEAC teams on ISO 20022 migration challenges	FEB-2025/26	BEAC	A regional seminar will be held for bank executives, and training will be provided to BEAC staff.

Appendix: SYGMA V10 Evolutions - Documentation for Participants

#	Tasks	Deadline / Period	Responsible(s)	Observations
7	Align SWIFT platform, if applicable, to ISO 20022 standard	NOV 2025	Participants/BEAC	CBPR+ Format
8	Deploy new SYGMA V10 version in test/staging environment	NOV-DEC 2025	BEAC	Detailed project schedule with milestones will be communicated to participants.
9	Conduct qualification tests for the new SYGMA version	DEC-JAN 2025/26	BEAC	Qualification tests are conducted by BEAC.
10	Organize participant training on the new SYGMA V10 platform operation	JAN-FEB 2025/26	BEAC	System new features, access procedures, and the new platform will be reviewed for participants.
11	Conduct Pilot sites for the new SYGMA version	MAR 2025/26	Participants	BEAC will supervise the work.
12	Deploy new SYGMA version in production / Disaster Recovery environment and Go Live	APR-MAY 2025/26	BEAC	BEAC proceeds in coordination with the provider to deploy it into the production / Disaster Recovery environment.
12	Post-production assistance	T+30 (J+30)	BEAC

#	Designation	Description
1	Circular Letter placing BEAC ISO 20022 formats on the "My standard" portal online	Mystandard BEAC_SYGMA_15020022_BEAC_	AP_TIA Message Collection
2	Provider Documentation CMA-I 3005-21 PTD 002	SYGMA REST API Specifications (MT-MX)
3	Provider Documentation CMA-I 3005-21 PTD 001	SYGMA MX Electronic Signature Guide
4	Provider Documentation CMA-I 3005-21 MFR 003	SYGMA Message Formats