SWIFT Says Bunch Of Banks Are Using Its gpi

SWIFT announced Thursday (Feb. 16) that global transaction banks are using SWIFT’s new global payments service, which went live in January.

In a press release, SWIFT said 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. More banks will follow in the coming months, SWIFT said.

“We are delighted that SWIFT gpi is now live and is already enhancing the cross-border payments experience for corporate treasurers,” said Christian Sarafidis, chief marketing officer at SWIFT, in the press release. “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.”

SWIFT gpi enables banks to provider a faster, more transparent and traceable cross-border payments service to its customers. The new gpi Tracker feature allows banks to provide corporate treasurers with a real-time view on the status of their payments, including confirmations when payments have been credited to beneficiaries’ accounts. SWIFT said it will also introduce the gpi Observer, a quality assurance tool that monitors participants’ adherence to the gpi business rules. SWIFT went on to say it is already designing the next phase of gpi, which will include more digital services to further transform the cross-border payment experience, such as a rich payment data service. “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,” said Wim Raymaekers, head of SWIFT gpi, in the same press release.