Banks Target June for New Swift Cross-Border Retail Payment Launch

A new Swift payments framework for retail transactions will begin its rollout by the end of June.

The framework is designed to bring greater speed, affordability and predictability to cross-border retail payments, Swift said in a Thursday (March 5) press release.

An initial group of more than 25 banks will go live with the framework by the end of June, according to the release.

They will use the framework for corridors to 11 countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Germany, India, Pakistan, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States, the release said.

After these launches, the framework will be activated in more markets by the end of the year, per the release.

Nasir Ahmed, head of payments scheme at Swift, said in the release that this initiative enables anyone to transact internationally with speed, assurances that the full value will reach the recipient, and knowledge that the fees are affordable and fixed.

“We’re committed to giving everyone the same first-class cross-border payments experience across all markets and all regulated forms of value—whenever, wherever and with full transparency—and we’re pleased to see the global banking community making this possible for their end customers,” Ahmed said in the release.

This initiative was announced by Swift in September. It is one half of the organization’s innovation strategy for cross-border payments, with the other half being a blockchain-based shared ledger that will join Swift’s infrastructure stack, according to the release.

When announcing the new framework in September, Swift said the new rules for its financial messaging network would speed cross-border payments for consumers and small businesses, enable retail customers to have peace of mind when making international payments, and extend these advantages to 4 billion accounts in more than 200 countries.

“The new scheme will ensure that consumers and small businesses will experience fast and predictable international payments, whether sending money to family abroad or paying an overseas supplier,” Swift Chief Business Officer Thierry Chilosi said in a September press release.

Swift also announced its plans to add a blockchain-based shared ledger to its technological infrastructure in September, saying this initiative is designed to make “instant, always-on cross-border transactions possible at unprecedented scale.”