European Payments Council defers setting new end date for unstructured address format until February 2027
On 10 September 2026, the European Payments Council (EPC) announced its decision to delay the planned November 2026 end date of the unstructured address format under all five EPC payment scheme rulebooks. Since the announcement, the EPC has been monitoring the use of the unstructured, structured and hybrid address formats in the EPC payment scheme transactions.
Based on this monitoring and on the latest market and payment industry developments, the EPC’s Payment Scheme Management Board (PSMB) decided on 29 October 2026 to postpone setting a new end date for the unstructured address format. The PSMB will reconvene by February 2027 to decide upon a new end date.
This delay does not alter the EPC’s commitment to the adoption of structured addresses. The EPC payment schemes already support both hybrid and structured address formats, and the EPC continues to recommend that payment service providers and payment service users move directly from unstructured to fully structured addresses wherever possible. This will support more efficient payment processing, stronger compliance and sanctions screening, improved reconciliation, and higher levels of straight-through processing.
The PSMB therefore strongly recommends all EPC payment scheme participants to continue their migration efforts and to maintain their current implementation plans. The participants are also strongly encouraged to step up their efforts to support and inform customers in their transition from unstructured addresses to preferably the fully structured address format.
