Validate a pain.001 against the XSD on your own machine

Get the XSD of your file’s version from iso20022.org and run xmllint --noout --schema pain.001.001.09.xsd payments.xml: it prints "payments.xml validates", or each error with its line number and "fails to validate". Python (lxml) and Java (javax.xml.validation) do the same in code. A schema-valid file can still break SEPA rules, because the schema does not contain them.

Get the official schema#

The ISO 20022 schemas are published by the ISO 20022 Registration Authority on iso20022.org. The copies BankLint uses for pain.001.001.09 and pain.001.001.03 come from its message archive (Payments Initiation message set) and are used unmodified. Validate against the version your file declares, and keep the schema as published: an edited copy no longer checks the standard.

Each schema declares only Document in its own namespace. A file in another namespace, such as a .03 file checked against the .09 schema, fails at its root element: xmllint and lxml report "No matching global declaration available for the validation root", Java reports cvc-elt.1.a. Check the namespace before reading any other error.

xmllint on the command line#

xmllint is the command-line tool of libxml2, the library BankLint’s validator also uses (through lxml). --noout stops it from printing the document itself.

xmllint --noout --schema pain.001.001.09.xsd payments.xml

payments.xml validates

payments.xml:134: element IBAN: Schemas validity error : Element '{urn:iso:std:iso:20022:tech:xsd:pain.001.001.09}IBAN': [facet 'pattern'] The value 'FR00 NOT AN IBAN' is not accepted by the pattern '[A-Z]{2,2}[0-9]{2,2}[a-zA-Z0-9]{1,30}'.
payments.xml fails to validate

The exit status is 0 for a valid file and 3 for a schema error, so the command can gate a script or a CI job. Try it with the synthetic file with an invalid IBAN pattern.

Python with lxml#

lxml uses libxml2, so the messages are the ones xmllint prints. In tests, schema.assertValid(doc) raises etree.DocumentInvalid with the first error instead. The parser settings stop a file from reaching the network, expanding entities or loading a DTD; BankLint parses files with the same three settings.

import sys
from lxml import etree

# No network access, no entity expansion, no DTD loading
parser = etree.XMLParser(no_network=True, resolve_entities=False, load_dtd=False)
schema = etree.XMLSchema(etree.parse("pain.001.001.09.xsd", parser))
doc = etree.parse(sys.argv[1], parser)

if schema.validate(doc):
    print("valid")
else:
    for error in schema.error_log:
        print(f"line {error.line}: {error.message}")

Java with javax.xml.validation#

The JDK validator starts each message with the W3C XML Schema constraint that failed, such as cvc-pattern-valid or cvc-complex-type.2.4.a. Without an error handler it stops at the first error. Each code is explained, with failing and corrected XML, in pain.001 XSD validation errors.

import java.io.File;
import javax.xml.XMLConstants;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;
import javax.xml.validation.Schema;
import javax.xml.validation.SchemaFactory;
import javax.xml.validation.Validator;
import org.xml.sax.SAXParseException;

public class Validate {
  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    SchemaFactory factory = SchemaFactory.newInstance(XMLConstants.W3C_XML_SCHEMA_NS_URI);
    Schema schema = factory.newSchema(new File("pain.001.001.09.xsd"));
    Validator validator = schema.newValidator();
    try {
      validator.validate(new StreamSource(new File(args[0])));
      System.out.println("valid");
    } catch (SAXParseException e) {
      System.out.println("line " + e.getLineNumber() + ": " + e.getMessage());
    }
  }
}

line 134: cvc-pattern-valid: Value 'FR00 NOT AN IBAN' is not facet-valid with respect to pattern '[A-Z]{2,2}[0-9]{2,2}[a-zA-Z0-9]{1,30}' for type 'IBAN2007Identifier'.

What the schema checks#

A few of the constraints in the pain.001.001.09 schema:

The schema checks form, not meaning: the IBAN pattern accepts any two-letter country code and wrong check digits, and the currency pattern accepts any three capital letters.

Schema-valid is not SEPA-valid#

The SEPA guidelines (EPC132-08 2025 v1.0) restrict many elements the schema allows. A file can pass xmllint and still break them:

The BankLint validator checks the schema and the SEPA rules together. Every SEPA rule is listed in SEPA Credit Transfer rules.

Questions

Where do I download the pain.001 XSD?#

From the ISO 20022 site, iso20022.org: pain.001.001.09 and pain.001.001.03 are in its message archive under Payments Initiation. Use the version in the namespace of your file.

What does "No matching global declaration available for the validation root" mean?#

The root element or its namespace does not belong to the schema, for example a pain.001.001.03 file checked against the pain.001.001.09 schema. Use the schema of the version in the file’s xmlns.

If the XSD validation passes, will the bank accept the file?#

Not necessarily. The schema checks structure and formats only. SEPA rules and your bank’s own requirements come on top.

Validate a pain.001 fileFree, no account needed, files are not stored.

More guides

• pain.001 XSD validation errors and how to fix them→
• Why banks reject pain.001 files→
• pain.002 status and reason codes for pain.001 files→
• How to validate a pain.001 payment file→
• pain.001.001.09 XML example for a SEPA credit transfer→

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