When is the MT306 used instead of the MT305?

The MT305 covers plain vanilla currency options. Options with barriers, digital payouts or trigger events, and the notification of those events, need the richer structure of the MT306.

Does an MT306 settle the premium?

No. Like other category 3 confirmations it confirms what was agreed. The premium and any settlement amounts are paid with separate payment messages.

Category 3: Foreign exchange, money markets and derivatives

MT306 Foreign Currency Option Confirmation

Written and maintained by ZagTrader. Last reviewed 21 October 2026. How this page is sourced and checked

The MT306 confirms a foreign currency option contract agreed between two parties, party A and party B. It covers the option types that the simpler MT305 cannot describe, such as barrier and digital options, and it is also used to notify trigger events (knock-in, knock-out, a trigger level being hit) and the close-out of an option.

Message type: MT306
Category: 3
Status: In the current standard
ISO 20022: No direct equivalent

What MT306 is used for

Each party, or a party acting on its behalf, sends the MT306 to the other after the deal is agreed, and the two confirmations are matched. Besides new deals it carries amendments and cancellations of a confirmation, and later events in the life of the option such as a knock-in or knock-out. It can also be used to report the contract to a trade repository.

The message is long and highly structured, with separate sequences for the option terms, premium, settlement, barrier and trigger details, and reporting information. Its layout was substantially reworked in Standards Release 2023 to follow an updated ISDA barrier event supplement, and it was changed again in later releases, so a counterparty on an old format version will see validation failures.

Sent by: Party A of the option contract (or a party acting for it)
Sent to: Party B of the option contract

Fields

This is a catalogue entry: the field-by-field structure is not shown here because we publish structures only where we have checked them against public sources. Paste an MT306 into the parser to see each field decoded with its tag, name and value.

Decode an MT306 in the parser

ISO 20022

No ISO 20022 equivalent: Swift’s MT and MX equivalence table lists none for this message. Treasury messages in category 3 were not part of the CBPR+ migration of cross-border payment instructions and remain MT messages on Swift.

MT306 questions

When is the MT306 used instead of the MT305?: The MT305 covers plain vanilla currency options. Options with barriers, digital payouts or trigger events, and the notification of those events, need the richer structure of the MT306.
Does an MT306 settle the premium?: No. Like other category 3 confirmations it confirms what was agreed. The premium and any settlement amounts are paid with separate payment messages.

All MT messages · Category 3 messages · ISO 20022 messages · Codes · Troubleshooting