The digital revolution is transforming the payments landscape
More and more countries are looking to implement instant payment services to meet consumer demand that their user experience in the retail world is replicated in financial services; they want to be able to pay and be paid in real time.
Earlier this year saw the launch of Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP), offering real-time retail payments around the clock. The development reflected the successful partnership between banks, the central bank and the payments market infrastructure in Australia to deliver an innovative and demanding project in a short timeframe.
Alain Raes, Chief Executive of EMEA & APAC, Swift said: “Swift has supported the evolution of payments systems around the world for more than 40 years and is delighted to have played an important role in the creation and roll out of real-time payments in Australia. The smooth delivery of the project is a measure of the great partnership that Swift and the Australian financial industry have developed throughout their collaboration.”
Other markets looking to make a similar transition to real time payments can benefit from the lessons learned during the Australian project. Raes commented: “Swift is already applying what we learned in Australia to the Eurozone.” In November 2018 SwiftNet Instant will go live, enabling seamless connectivity to multiple clearing and settlement mechanisms (CSMs). This means customers will not have to build bespoke links to each system but will have access through a single user interface to multiple instant payments systems in Europe for both domestic and cross-border payments. This will include the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS), commissioned by the Eurosystem, and RT-1, the instant payment service offered by EBA CLEARING.
Implementing an instant payments service can be complex and resource intensive but Swift’s user community can leverage their current infrastructure to connect securely with instant payment systems worldwide with the reassurance of working with known and trusted processes. Existing and new customers can benefit from a smooth on-boarding experience that mitigates risk and minimises disruption.
Swift users will also benefit from Swift’s commitment to the forthcoming consolidated Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway (ESMIG), which will offer access to T2, T2S and TIPS through the same interface. Migration to this single European gateway will be one of the most crucial tasks facing European banks and other financial institutions in the coming years. By implementing SwiftNet Instant, customers will be future proofed and ready for this development.
Swift has supported the evolution of payments systems around the world for more than 40 years and is delighted to have played an important role in the creation and roll out of real-time payments in Australia. The smooth delivery of the project is a measure of the great partnership that Swift and the Australian financial industry have developed throughout their collaboration.
Europe and beyond
Swift’s instant payments solution is also replicable in other geographies. Swift provides US financial institutions with a gateway to The Clearing House’s real time payments platform as well as providing a similar solution to participants to Hong Kong’s Faster Payments System (FPS).
Swift’s expertise and technology will enable the financial community to deliver a successful instant payments programme quickly, cost effectively and with minimal risk.
With a robust infrastructure already connected to more than 11,000 global financial organisations across the ecosystem, in almost every country in the world, Swift is in a unique position to help customers implement a world-class instant payments solution that will revolutionise the payments industry.
