(07 October 2020 – Global) SWIFT has announced its plans for a new service to help banks improve the experience for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and consumers who send low-value cross-border payments.
The new solution builds on the strength of its SWIFT Global Payment Initiative (gpi) and the high-speed rails that have already transformed the business of high-value payments. This new initiative will enable consumers and SMEs to benefit from predictable payments, with costs and processing times known upfront, and real-time status available to both originator and beneficiary customers via their financial institutions.
Banks who joined in the development of this new capability include Bank of China, Barclays, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, KEB Hana Bank, MYbank, National Australia Bank, SMBC, Standard Bank, StoneX, UniCredit and Wells Fargo. An additional seven banks have signed up to participate in a pilot phase starting at the end of October: Banca Intesa, BBVA, DNB, HSBC, Sberbank of Russia, Société Générale and Standard Chartered. The service is expected to be available to all gpi financial institutions in 2021.
“The success of SWIFT gpi, which is used by thousands of banks and carries billions of payments globally, enables ever-faster transaction processing times and transparency. And it now provides us with the opportunity to transform the experience in the SME and consumer payment markets,” said SWIFT Chief Strategy Officer David Watson.