SWIFT launches pilot for global payments innovation initiative

A total of 21 banks have started the pilot for SWIFT’s global payments innovation initiative, intended to improve the customer experience in correspondent banking by increasing the speed, transparency and predictability of cross-border payments.

The pilot will run through to December, with the first results to be shared at Sibos 2016 in Geneva in September. Banks participating in the pilot include: ANZ, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of China, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Danske Bank, DBS, ICBC, ING Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan Chase, Mizuho, Nordea, Royal Bank of Canada, SMBC, Standard Chartered, UniCredit and Wells Fargo.

“The tight knit group of leading banks will help to spearhead the testing through the pilot and beyond,” said Wim Raymaekers, global head of the banking market and project lead for the initiative. “Their commitment is testament to the initiative and our joint ambition to significantly improve the cross-border payments experience for corporate customers.

“As we progress, we aim to incorporate additional innovations and deploy new technologies to this global payments innovation initiative, and 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.”

In response to requests, SWIFT is offering an on-boarding process in parallel to the pilot, to ensure that all banks signed up for the initiative can prepare for live operations. The service is planned to go live for all participating banks in 2017.