Encoding and Languages

Several core services internally use the Windows-1257 code page, which primarily supports Baltic languages along with a selection of other European languages. Further details about the supported character set can be found on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows-1257. In contrast, ISO 20022 standard messages are technically encoded in UTF-8.

In practice, this means that while UTF-8 characters are accepted, any characters not supported by Windows-1257 are replaced with a ? symbol. This behaviour applies to all API services unless explicitly stated otherwise.

For example unstructured payment description submitted in the payment file:

//Submitted by customer
Payment description - описание платежа.

//Sent to the payment scheme
Payment description - ???????? ???????.

In addition to the code page limitations, Connect applies a set of predefined character replacements before applying the Windows-1257 restrictions. These replacements ensure consistency and compatibility across all payment types.

Character replacements for all payments:

Character(s)	Replacement for all receiver BIC countries
\	/
] }	)
[	(
_ ~	-
` ’	'
Ę Ē É Ė	E
ę ē é ė	e
Ć Č	C
ć č	c
Ģ	G
ģ	g
Į Ī	I
į ī	i
Ķ	K
ķ	k
Ļ Ł	L
ļ ł	l
Ń Ņ	N
ń ņ	n
[character code 160]	space
€	E
Ą Ā Å	A
æ ą ā å	a
Ó Ō Ø	O
ó ō ø	o
Ū Ų	U
ū ų	u
Ś	S
ś ß	s
Ź Ż	Z
ź ż	z

Additional replacements based on receiver bank BIC country:

• ISO - all countries except for EE and GB

• EE - Estonia

• GB - Great Britain

Original Character(s)	Replacement	Applies to
{	(	ISO, EE
;	č	ISO, EE
Ä	A	ISO, GB
ä	a	ISO, GB
Õ Ö	O	ISO, GB
õ ö	o	ISO, GB
Ü	U	ISO, GB
ü	u	ISO, GB
Š	S	ISO, GB
š	s	ISO, GB
Ž	Z	ISO, GB
ž	z	ISO, GB