SWIFT Ties gpi To eCommerce And DLT

Payments messaging company SWIFT said it will test gpi Link, “a gateway to interlink eCommerce and trading platforms with the SWIFT gpi payment service.”

According to a statement, “gpi Link will seamlessly connect gpi members to multiple trade platforms, thereby enabling gpi payment initiation, end-to-end payment tracking, payer authentication and credit confirmation. The gateway will enable the continuous monitoring and control of payment flows and the subsequent movement of goods by those trade platforms, while, to ensure global integration and interoperability, it will support application programming interfaces (APIs), as well as SWIFT and ISO standards.”

SWIFT said the first part of this proof-of-concept effort will involve Corda, an R3 blockchain platform. The proof of concept is designed to “bring the benefits of gpi payments’ speed, ubiquity and certainty to distributed ledger technology (DLT)-enabled trade.” Beyond that, this proof-of-concept effort, SWIFT said, “addresses the need for DLT-based commerce to be supported by global, fast, secure and transparent settlement using fiat currencies by enabling ‘off-ledger’ payment settlement based on gpi.”

According to Luc Meurant, CMO for SWIFT, “with gpi Link, banks will be able to provide rapid, transparent settlement services to eCommerce and trading platforms, opening up whole new ecosystems to the speed, security, ubiquity and transparency of gpi and enabling them to grow and prosper in the new digital economy.”

Earlier this month, SWIFT said it is expanding its gpi for Corporates (g4C) initiative, adding treasury management technology company BELLIN to its roster of early adopters of the tool. The collaboration will see BELLIN and other early adopters testing the g4C functionality using SWIFT FIN messages, a type of payments messaging standard that enables the movement of data between financial institutions.