SWIFT Broadens Real-Time Payment Tracking Capabilites

SWIFT’s gpi initiative is broadening payment tracking capabilities, according to a press release from the payments messaging organization.

An announcement Friday (March 23) said SWIFT is expanding its gpi Tracker solution to enable real-time tracking of all payment instructions across the network, regardless of geographic location.

SWIFT rolled out the gpi Tracker solution last year as a solution to help treasurers track payments in real time with a focus on cross-border transactions.

An extension of the Tracker will go live in November, SWIFT said, and will see the organization providing an end-to-end transaction reference for all payment instructions across more than 200 nations. As of November 2018, all SWIFT customers will be required to include the unique-end-to-end transaction reference (UETR) number in payment instructions, whether they are a part of gpi or not.

Financial institutions that are part of gpi can gain automated updates to the status of payments and confirm payment completion.

“These expanded tracking capabilities are part of a series of gpi services that we will roll out in 2018 to further improve the cross-border payments experience, enable banks to provide a far superior service to their customers and rapidly attract more banks to join,” said SWIFT head of payments Harry Newman.

SWIFT added that enhanced tracking capabilities support faster, automated and accurate reconciliation of payments and invoices, reduce FX risk exposure, and boost cash flow forecasting abilities.

“The extension of the Tracker to non-gpi payments is a major step forward,” said Navinder Duggal, group head of cash product at DBS, in a statement. “It will significantly extend transparency and it will drive more banks to join the service, rapidly making gpi the new normal in cross-border payments.”

“Enabling end-to-end tracking of all payment instructions through to the end destination is a game-changer,” added Lars Sjögren, Danske Bank global head of transaction banking, in another statement. “Until last year, it was impossible for banks to gather this information on behalf of their customers, but the introduction of the gpi Tracker has addressed this challenge head on, transforming cross-border payments and dramatically improving the service that banks can offer to their customers in a very cost-efficient way.”