45 leading banks sign up to SWIFT global payments initiative

SWIFT says that 45 leading banks have signed up to its global payments innovation initiative, announced at the end of December 2015.

The 45 participating firms include major transaction banks from Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and the

45 leading banks sign up to SWIFT global payments initiative

Americas. More banks are expected to join this initiative in the coming months.

“Such strong participation from major banks all around the world is proof of the importance of this global payments innovation initiative and of their commitment to offering greater speed, transparency and predictability in cross-border payments,” comments Christian Sarafidis, Chief Marketing Officer at SWIFT.

The vision of the global payments innovation initiative is to enhance cross-border transactions by leveraging SWIFT’s proven messaging platform and global reach. Together with the industry, SWIFT has created a new service level agreement (SLA) rulebook, providing an opportunity for smart collaboration between banks.

In its first phase, the new service will focus on business-to-business payments. Designed to help corporates grow their international business, improve supplier relationships, and achieve greater treasury efficiencies; the initiative will enable corporates to receive an enhanced payments service directly from their banks, with the following key features:

• Same day use of funds
• Transparency and predictability of fees
• End-to-end payments tracking
• Transfer of rich payment information.

“Designed for the corporate treasurer, this initiative will enable banks to dramatically improve their customers’ cross-border payments experience. Leveraging SWIFT’s global community and the innovative application of its proven technology, the new service should find rapid adoption and make a hugely positive impact on the global payments landscape,” says Wim Raymaekers, Head of Correspondent Banking at SWIFT.

The pilot of the new initiative will start from early 2016. Following the corporate cross-border payments pilot programme, SWIFT aims to incorporate additional innovations and deploy new technologies to its global payments innovation initiative. SWIFT will work together with the industry to define additional service level agreements that will cater for other client groups, further reducing the costs and frictions arising from compliance, liquidity and processing efficiency considerations involved in cross-border payments.

The banks that have signed up for the initiative are:

ABN AMRO Bank, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of China, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Banco Santander, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citibank, Commerzbank, Credit Suisse, Danske Bank, DBS Bank, Deutsche Bank, Ecobank, FirstRand Bank, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, ING Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan Chase, KBC Bank, KEB Hana Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Maybank, Mizuho Bank, National Australia Bank, Natixis, Nordea Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Raiffeisen Bank International, RBC Royal Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sberbank, SEB, Société Générale, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, TD Bank, UBS, UniCredit, United Overseas Bank and Wells Fargo.

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