Nordea adopts SWIFT’s payments data quality service

SWIFT reports that Swedish financial services group Nordea Bank AB, has become the first subscriber to its new payments data quality service, an advanced reporting and data analytics solution that helps financial institutions comply with new requirements stemming from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Recommendation 16.

FATF has set out an international framework for countries to adopt in order to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Recommendation 16 states that originator and beneficiary information must be included in wire transfers. Today, this information is missing or incomplete in a significant number of payments messages, posing potential compliance challenges for banks.

To address these issues and help banks monitor their compliance with FATF16, SWIFT introduced the payments data quality service in April 2016. It checks messages after the fact using quality verification rules developed by SWIFT in line with industry practice and in cooperation with its global community. The new service also allows banks to consistently apply the agreed-upon set of verification rules based on FATF 16 guidelines, thus facilitating the development of industry standards globally.