More than 50% of SWIFT gpi payments are credited to the beneficiary in less than 30 minutes and many arrive in just a few seconds. A significant part of the remaining messages are delayed due to errors in the payment data such as incorrect or missing beneficiary information, and insufficient regulatory data.

Using secure APIs, predictive analysis and AI, the new gpi capability will pre-validate messages, identifying and flagging potential issues ahead of time, thereby reducing delays, rejections and the return of incorrect payment messages. Customers will be given greater assurance and a hassle-free experience from start to finish with the payment originator verifying with the beneficiary bank, ahead of time, that the beneficiary account will be able to receive the funds.

Initial discussions have begun with a range of banks to deliver the pre-validation service which will also provide up front transparency on fees, based on the exact routing of the payment message. This will give payment originators and beneficiaries complete transparency and predictability on costs, routes and expected delivery of their funds.

Announcing the concept, SWIFT CEO, Gottfried Leibbrandt, said: “Within the fast-growing gpi community there is strong demand for further transparency and the ability to address issues before payments are made so that they are as predictable and as efficient as possible. This exciting new feature will help address those needs and provide our customers with peace of mind when they send their payment messages.”

Harry Newman, Head of Banking at SWIFT, said: “While currency controls and regulatory approval processes will always cause some delays in the payment process, many payment flows can be sped up by ensuring the correct information is provided upfront – invalid beneficiary information is the first cause of returned or rejected payments. Eliminating these detectable and preventable errors and omissions will make international payments much more efficient.”

Denis Kruger, Head of Sub-Sahara Africa at SWIFT, said: “SWIFT gpi is helping African banks become more competitive by dramatically improving customer experience through speed, transparency and end-to-end tracking of cross-border payments. By eradicating delays due to errors in payment data, SWIFT gpi will enable African corporates to achieve further efficiencies in their supply chains by offering complete transparency when it comes to fees and expected delivery of funds.”

To date, over 220 financial institutions around the world are signed up to SWIFT gpi, with over USD 100 billion in SWIFT gpi payments being sent daily across 600+ international payment corridors – representing over a third of all SWIFT payments.

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About gpi

The SWIFT global payments innovation (SWIFT gpi) is the largest change in cross-border payments over the last 30 years and is the new standard. SWIFT gpi dramatically improves the customer experience in cross-border payments by increasing their speed, transparency and end-to-end tracking. Hundreds of thousands of cross-border payments are today being sent using the new gpi standard, and payments are made quickly, typically within minutes, even seconds.

SWIFT gpi allows corporates to receive an enhanced payments service, with the following key features:

    Faster, same day use of funds within the time zone of the receiving gpi member
    Transparency of fees
    End-to-end payments tracking
    Remittance information transferred unaltered

As an initiative, SWIFT gpi engages the global banking industry and fintech communities to innovate in the area of cross-border payments while reducing their back-office costs. Since its launch in January 2017, gpi has dramatically improved the cross-border payments experience for corporates in over 600 country corridors. Key features of the gpi service include enhanced business rules and a secure tracking database in the cloud accessible via APIs.

Thanks to SWIFT gpi, corporates can grow their international business, improve supplier relationships, and achieve greater treasury efficiencies. Overall, nearly 50% of SWIFT gpi payments are credited to end beneficiaries within 30 minutes, and almost 100% of payments within 24 hours. Those that take longer typically involve more complex foreign exchange conversions, compliance checks or regulatory authorisations.

In addition to over 220 financial institutions that have adopted gpi, more than 55 payment market infrastructures are already exchanging gpi payments, enabling domestic exchange and tracking. Payment market infrastructures have a critical role to play in facilitating the end-to-end tracking of cross-border payments because as soon as international payments hit the destination country, they are typically cleared through local payment infrastructures.

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 and standards for communicating, and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration, identification, analysis and regulatory 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. While SWIFT does not hold funds or manage accounts on behalf of customers, we enable our global community of users to communicate securely, exchanging standardised financial messages in a reliable way, thereby supporting global and local financial flows, as well as trade and commerce all around the world.

As their trusted provider, we relentlessly pursue operational excellence; we support our community in addressing cyber threats; and we continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Our products and services support our community’s access and integration, business intelligence, reference data and financial crime compliance needs. SWIFT also brings the financial community together – at global, regional and local levels – to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest or concern. SWIFT’s strategic five-year plan, SWIFT2020, challenges SWIFT to continue investing in the security, reliability and growth of its core messaging platform, while making additional investments in existing services and delivering new and innovative solutions.

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.