ISO 20022 bank transaction codes: domain, family and sub-family

How to read a bank transaction code

The ISO code nests three levels in Ntry/BkTxCd/Domn of camt.052, camt.053 and camt.054: a domain (the business area), a family within the domain (the kind of operation and its direction) and a sub-family (the scheme or product). A bank can add its own code in Prtry, next to the ISO code or instead of it.

<BkTxCd>
  <Domn>
    <Cd>PMNT</Cd>              <!-- domain: payments -->
    <Fmly>
      <Cd>RCDT</Cd>            <!-- family: received credit transfers -->
      <SubFmlyCd>ESCT</SubFmlyCd>  <!-- sub-family: SEPA credit transfer -->
    </Fmly>
  </Domn>
  <Prtry>
    <Cd>NTRF</Cd>              <!-- optional: a bank's or a scheme's own code -->
    <Issr>SWIFT</Issr>
  </Prtry>
</BkTxCd>

• Direction is in the family, not the code. RCDT is a credit transfer you received and ICDT one you issued; the entry’s CdtDbtInd (CRDT or DBIT) says which way the money moved.
• Returns are their own sub-families. A payment that comes back keeps the family of the original (ICDT for a transfer you sent) with a reversal sub-family such as RRTN, and carries a reason code.
• NTAV and OTHR (not available, other) fill a level the bank cannot or does not specify.

Common combinations

Each of these has a page: what it means, what the entry carries and its MT940 counterpart.

Domains

Families and their sub-families

The families of the three domains statements use most, each with the sub-families ISO allows under it (of those this site names). A combination outside this list is not necessarily wrong: the full ISO list is longer.

MCOP and MDOP (miscellaneous credit and debit operations) exist in every domain, and take the generic sub-families: fees, commissions, taxes, charges, interest and adjustments.

Sub-families

The complete set, with every domain’s families and sub-families, is published with the ISO 20022 external code sets. The viewers show a code that is not in these tables as written, and never report it as an error.

Look up a code from a script or an AI agent

The same explanation is available to scripts and AI agents, keyless: the REST endpoint GET /api/v1/explain and the explain_code tool of the MCP server at https://iso20022-navigator.com/mcp (API and MCP docs; add it to Claude, Cursor or VS Code).

curl -s 'https://iso20022-navigator.com/api/v1/explain?code=PMNT%2FRCDT%2FESCT'

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "explain_code",
    "arguments": {
      "code": "PMNT/RCDT/ESCT"
    }
  }
}

{
  "query": "PMNT/RCDT/ESCT",
  "kind": "auto",
  "matches": [
    {
      "kind": "bank_transaction_code",
      "code": "PMNT/RCDT/ESCT",
      "name": "Payments · Received Credit Transfers · SEPA Credit Transfer",
      "definition": "ISO 20022 Bank Transaction Code: domain, family and sub-family classify what kind of entry this is.",
      "usedIn": "camt.052/053/054 Ntry/BkTxCd/Domn (Cd, Fmly/Cd, Fmly/SubFmlyCd)",
      "reference": "https://iso20022-navigator.com/bank-transaction-codes/pmnt-rcdt-esct"
    }
  ]
}