Swift boosts number of partner banks
(29 June 2016 – Global) Interbank messaging network Swift has announced that it has signed 73 banks to its global payments initiative.
The first phase of the initiative is well underway with a pilot focused on business-to-business payments.
Further, more than 40 banks globally have already participated in a series of workshops held in Frankfurt, Singapore, London and New York earlier this year, to help sketch out a new vision for correspondent banking dubbed "the digital transformation of cross-border payments".
Among the new firms to join are Alfa-Bank, Axis Bank, Banco de Crédito del Peru, Banco do Brasil, Bangkok Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Banque Européenne d’investissement, CaixaBank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Credit Agricole, CTBC Bank, E.Sun Commercial Bank, Fifth Third Bank, ICICI Bank, Itaù Unibanco, Mashreq Bank, Promsvyazbank, Rabobank, Svenska Handelsbanken, Swedbank, TMB Bank and US Bank.
In a statement, Wim Raymaekers, global head of banking market and project lead for this initiative at Swift, said: “Together, they do nearly 75 percent of all cross-border payments on the Swift network.”
Under the programme, corporate users will be exposed to same day use of funds, transparency and predictability of fees, end-to-end payments tracking and richer payments information.
On the technology side, Swift has committed to develop a 'database in the cloud', to report on the status of a payment transaction, from the moment it is sent until it is confirmed - similar to tracking services provided by international shipping companies.
"This new payments tracker is a great example of collaborative innovation. For the first time, banks will be able to give their customers precise information about their payments, in real-time, including confirmation of credit to beneficiary's account," Raymaekers said.
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