Corporate treasurers around the world are getting a better cross-border payments experience, today
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Brussels, 16 February 2017 – Swift announces today that global transaction banks are actively using Swift’s new global payments innovation (gpi) service, which opened for live payments in January 2017. ABN AMRO, Bank of China, BBVA, Citi, Danske Bank, DBS Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, ING Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Nordea Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and UniCredit are live with Swift GPI, exchanging gpi payments across 60 country corridors. Numerous additional banks will follow in the coming months.
“We are delighted that Swift GPI is now live and is already enhancing the cross-border payments experience for corporate treasurers,” says Christian Sarafidis, Chief Marketing Officer at Swift. “A year ago the global financial community pledged to dramatically improve the cross-border payments experience, and today marks a major milestone in delivering on that promise. It further demonstrates the ability of Swift and the financial industry to collaborate, innovate and rapidly introduce new solutions.”
We are delighted that Swift GPI is now live and is already enhancing the cross-border payments experience for corporate treasurers.
Swift GPI enables banks to offer a faster, more transparent and traceable cross-border payments service. The highly innovative new gpi Tracker feature allows banks to provide corporate treasurers with a real-time, end-to-end view on the status of their payments, including confirmations when payments have been credited to beneficiaries’ accounts. Treasurers also now have certainty that remittance information, such as invoice references, are transferred unaltered to the beneficiary. Swift will also introduce the gpi Observer, a quality assurance tool that monitors participants’ adherence to the gpi business rules.
Swift is already designing the next phase of gpi, which will include additional digital services to further transform the cross-border payment experience, such as a rich payment data service.
Wim Raymaekers, Head of Swift GPI at Swift adds: “Customers require more certainty, transparency and traceability in their cross-border payments; Swift GPI is delivering this today. And with nearly 100 leading transaction banks already signed up, Swift GPI is set to rapidly expand with more banks, new features and additional payment services.”
Customers require more certainty, transparency and traceability in their cross-border payments; Swift GPI is delivering this today. And with nearly 100 leading transaction banks already signed up, Swift GPI is set to rapidly expand with more banks, new features and additional payment services.
In parallel, Swift GPI is exploring distributed ledger technology for real-time Nostro account reconciliation. A proof of concept was announced in January 2017.
To learn more, visit www.swift.com/gpi.
Notes to the editor:
Read below to see what live users are saying about Swift GPI:
"A first step in the next era of cross border payments is set by delivering enhanced transparency and speed. ABN AMRO is eager to explore and implement new technologies and opportunities that arise from Swift GPI to improve the customer journey in today’s payment services by the adopted agile approach." - Koen Thomassen, Head of Network Management, OPS Transaction Banking at ABN Amro
“The successful go-live of Swift GPI service is a big event in global financial industry, and marks an important milestone in correspondent banking cross-border payments. Bank of China has actively participated in Swift GPI to improve customer experience, and has played an important role in international payments innovation. With professional expertise in cross-border payments, Bank of China is now one of the leading gpi participants with the fastest implementation progress and the best results. After the go-live of Swift GPI service, with the widest correspondent network and overseas operations all over the world, we will continue to strengthen our traditional advantages in multi-currency, multi-channel, safe and efficient international payment services and upgrade our international payment products for corporate, individual and financial institution customers. We expect to provide better customers experience in cross-border payments with the same-day use of funds, transparency of fees and end-to-end payments tracking.“ - Mr. Sun Shangbin, Deputy General Manager, Clearing Department at Bank of China
"In cross-border payments our customers are demanding faster execution, more transparency in fees and traceability end-to-end. For BBVA, Swift GPI is a first step to respond to our customers' needs" - Carmela Gomez - Head of Global Transaction Services at BBVA
“Citi’s commitment to enriching our client’s experience is showcased by being one of the first banks to send live gpi payments. Swift’s gpi initiative is significantly enhancing cross-border payments by delivering much greater certainty and transparency through the payment chain – a key requirement of our clients. We look forward to delivering this increased transparency to our clients and working with the rest of the industry to continue to drive innovation in payments.” - Mark McNulty, Global Head of Financial Institutions Payments and Clearing at Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions
“The bank’s decision to pilot and participate in gpi is a natural outcome of a strategic focus on being at the forefront of new payment opportunities. We want to utilise new technology and be an innovative frontrunner because it ultimately benefits our customers. By taking the lead as a pilot bank, we emphasise our ambition to offer faster and more transparent payment solutions, for corporates and personal customers alike.” - Lars Sjögren, Global Head of Transaction Banking at Danske Bank
“The Banking industry has achieved a major milestone with Swift GPI service going live. DBS, being an early adopter of Swift GPI in Asia, sees gpi as an important step toward making customer experience joyful for cross border payments. The initiative looks very promising, as more and more banks joins in embracing this digital initiative.” - Navinder Duggal, Group Head of Cash Product Management at DBS
"Swift GPI is very important to the future of cross-border payments. This service will drive greater efficiency and transparency of cross-border payments, bringing significant advantages for banks and improved experience for our customers, particularly in Asia where cross-border business activity continues to be strong. Moreover, ICBC maintains a leading position in payment market, and with our service network expanding to 42 countries and regions, we believe this initiative will benefit our correspondent banking clients substantially in efficiently managing their payments and receipts, too. ICBC will continue to work with Swift using the new technology to meet the needs of our clients.” - Peng Hua, Deputy Head of Clearing Center, Operation Management Department at ICBC
“We view Swift’s GPI initiative as one of the pillars supporting ING’s strategy of delivering continuous improvements in the client experience of international payments, enabling both our clients and their counterparties to stay a step ahead in everyday business.” - Mark Buitenhek, Global Head of Transaction Services at ING Bank
“Swift GPI is the first concrete example that provides for international payments to be enhanced and made faster without increasing risk and uncertainty; in this case, innovation and solidity grow together!” - Stefano Favale, Head of GTB at Intesa Sanpaolo
“We are convinced Swift’s new global payments innovation (gpi) service is the future of cross-border payments and will offer significant advantages for our customers. Improvements in speed combined with greater transparency and real-time, end-to-end traceability of payments has been on the wish-list of our customers for some time. We are proud to be an active part of an initiative that will meet those customer needs – and hopefully exceed them in future phases of the Swift GPI development.” - Christel Bagger, Head of Payment Solutions at Nordea
“We are very pleased to see that the Swift GPI is now live. Standard Chartered has been involved in this industry initiative as a pilot bank right from the start and believes this will improve the cross-border payments experience for our clients. Gpi delivers a new service standard for cross-border payments and is a critical next step in international payments innovation.” - Anurag Bajaj, Managing Director and Global Head of Banks – Transaction Banking at Standard Chartered Bank
“UniCredit is very proud to be a pioneer of the Swift GPI service,which delivers a new standard for cross-border payments, and is a critical next step in international payments innovation.” - Claudio Camozzo, Global co-Head of Global Transaction Banking at UniCredit
“Swift GPI dramatically improves the cross-border payments experience for our corporate customers, offering them a cross-border payments service that is transparent, traceable and enables same day use of funds.” - Jan Kupfer, Global co-Head of Global Transaction Banking at UniCredit
About Swift
Swift is a global member-owned cooperative and the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services. We provide our community with a platform for messaging, standards for communicating and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration; identification, analysis and financial crime compliance. Our messaging platform, products and services connect more than 11,000 banking and securities organisations, market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories, enabling them to communicate securely and exchange standardised financial messages in a reliable way. As their trusted provider, we facilitate global and local financial flows, support trade and commerce all around the world; we relentlessly pursue operational excellence and continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Headquartered in Belgium, Swift’s international governance and oversight reinforces the neutral, global character of its cooperative structure. Swift’s global office network ensures an active presence in all the major financial centres.
For more information, visit www.swift.com or follow us on Twitter: @swiftcommunity and LinkedIn: Swift.
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