SWIFT Adds Daily Updates to SWIFTRef Platform
SWIFT has added daily updates to its reference data directories to further reduce industry costs associated with payments processing.
The financial messaging provider said that as part of the SWIFTRef data platform, the new service will replace monthly updates and will help financial institutions (FIs) and corporates respond to market developments and the evolving regulatory landscape.
SWIFT added that reference data is constantly changing with Business/Bank Identification Codes (BICs), national bank identifiers or Standing Settlement Instructions (SSIs) being modified due to merger or splits of companies, the disappearance or creation of entities and modifications in correspondent banking relationships. SWIFT calculates that in a typical month:
Maintaining accurate and up-to-date data is therefore a major challenge for medium to large FIs and corporations processing thousands of domestic and international payments every day.
“As competition across the sector increases and with margins under continuous pressure, data quality and daily access to up-to-date payments reference data is paramount,” said Patrik Neutjens, head of reference data at SWIFT. “Providing daily feeds of our reference data files will help our stakeholders in their crusade to achieve higher payments processing efficiency and lead to significant cost reductions for the industry as a whole.”
In providing daily updates, SWIFTRef helps organisations comply with regulations such as the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) and the single euro payments area (SEPA), which require timely reporting and improved identification of counterparties with valid BICs or International Bank Account Numbers (IBAN) respectively.
As Martine Brachet, head of interbank relationships at Société Générale and a SWIFT advisor, explains: “Reference data is now part of the core of the information systems of the banking sector. Without BIC, IBAN or SSI it is not possible to manage the enormous daily flows of payments without taking the risk of delivering the funds to the wrong parties.
“From February 2014, the European banks will have to derive the BIC of the destination from the IBAN, for national SEPA payments, it is essential to get valid and reliable reference data on a daily basis in order to make the relevant controls and so reduce the operational and financial risks.”
The need for intraday reporting services under Basel III was much discussed at the recent SWIFT Business Forum in London.