Corporates, Banks Benefit from Remittance Info in Wire Transfers
US corporations overwhelmingly confirmed the importance of receiving remittance information in wire transfers – and banks would benefit as well, according to a new survey by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP). Ninety-five percent of the 331 respondents said remittance information would be valuable to their organisation if it were made available in the wire transfer message.
Organisations today do not receive sufficient information with their wire transfers to post the payments to the correct accounts without manual intervention. The AFP has been working the Federal Reserve Banks and The Clearing House, operators of the Fedwire Funds Service and CHIPS, to develop a solution to this problem. The two organisations have agreed to expand their formats to provide remittance information with wire transfers by late 2010.
While 91% of wire transfer recipients – the main beneficiaries of remittance information – indicated they would use the new data to receive and post incoming wires, nearly two-thirds (61%) said they would include remittance information in outgoing wires, perhaps to reduce the number of inquiries from the receiver of the wire transfer.
“The results of this study are a ringing endorsement of this initiative,” said Arlene Chapman, CTP, consultant to AFP. “It shows how valuable it will be to corporate customers – and banks.”
Bank cash management systems are the primary channel used by organisations to send and receive wires. When banks and software providers make this new format available, businesses will be able to accurately identify incoming payments and post them to the correct accounts without manual intervention and research.