We’ve been working with over 30 financial institutions to demonstrate how Swift solutions can help raise the standard of cross-border payments for end customers. Now, we take a look at the results of this initiative and unpack how we’re enabling the entire industry to benefit.
International payments are evolving – and expectations are soaring.
Consumers and businesses alike expect a fast, predictable experience. And regulators are raising the bar, too. The G20 has set ambitious targets to improve the speed, transparency, cost, choice and access of international payments by 2027. And while great progress has been made already, ensuring consumers realise those benefits from their first click or swipe is imperative.
To support our community in delivering best-in-class end-to-end experiences for their customers, we began working with a pilot group of 26 financial institutions and six third-party application providers earlier this year to explore how Swift's solutions can help.
Now our focus is on supporting our members to expose these solutions directly to their customers. Used at scale, these capabilities can uplift the ecosystem and help the industry meet the G20’s goals for cross-border payments.
What we learned
Participants in our pilot focused on the impact of embedding Swift services – typically used in the interbank leg – directly into their front-end customer channels to increase the transparency, predictability, and trackability of transactions, as well as ensuring no additional deductions were applied. The products tested were Swift GPI, Swift Go, Payment Pre-validation, Swift Ref, as well as the use of fee statistics from previous transactions.
Overwhelmingly, the majority of participants, 95%, told us that these products would significantly enhance the end customers’ user experience. For example, by offering customers the ability to track the status of their payment using Swift GPI data. In addition, more than half said they would implement these solutions into their front-end channels within six months.
“Swift's features enable us to streamline our back-office processes in addition to providing our clients with an improved user experience,” said Alfonso Salvo, VP Corporate Banking & Wealth Management at BAC. “Swift GPI, Payment Pre-validation, and SwiftRef offer assurance and remove any uncertainty during payment execution and prior to its settlement.”
Charles Bunnik, Market Infrastructure Manager at ABN Amro, added: “Our customers put their confidence in us when sending money internationally and it’s important for us to repay their trust with the best possible experience. Swift’s capabilities mean we’re able to enhance peace of mind for customers by allowing them to see where their payment is on its journey – all the way from initiation to settling in the beneficiary’s account.”
“Swift’s capabilities offer the potential to help all of our customers – across all segments – transact internationally with more confidence,” said Francis Go, Product Manager at ING. “Once implemented, these solutions will enhance the user experience by reducing friction and by providing end-to-end transparency and peace of mind that the payment is being sent to the right place.”
Next steps: Scaling the initiative
This pilot has demonstrated the benefit that adopting Swift solutions can have for banks’ customers. So, to further explore the possibilities, we’re expanding this initiative to 100 new banks with the aim of ensuring adoption and implementation is as seamless as possible.
Interested in joining this working group?
Reach out to your account manager or get in touch.
Who took part in our proof of value?
Payment service providers |
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ABN AMRO AfrAsia Bank BAC Bank of Georgia BCI BIL BNY Mellon |
BPCE Column DTB Kenya Emirates NBD Hana Bank Hipotekarna Banka I&M Bank |
ING Kapital Bank National Bank of Canada NMB Bank Shinhan Bank |
Business application providers |
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Coconet EvonSys IntellectEU Movitz NS Solutions Veritran |
