- SWIFT will roll out its ‘gpi’ service, which is currently used by business customers making high-value international transactions, to smaller firms – bringing benefits such as speed and cost-effectiveness to these markets.
- High levels of transparency are on offer with the service, and customers can enjoy using a simple, single payment format.
- In a statement, a senior figure at SWIFT said that the firm was expecting there to be a high level of take-up for the new service.
Financial network provider SWIFT has announced early plans for an innovative system designed to help financial services providers assist clients making low-value transactions.
SWIFT said that it is going to create a service designed to help both customers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to make easier and simpler low-value international money transfers.
The organisation said that it will be working with 20 financial services companies around the world to provide the new service.
The service is based on the high-speed ‘rails’ that already exist in SWIFT’s digital architecture.
These are known for their fast speeds, and have already assisted those firms that are in the business of sending larger sums of money.
Transparency around processing times has gone up as a result of the service, while information about costs is also more widely available.
Information about senders and recipients is also available on an instant, real-time basis.
As well as an improved user experience, the service also provides a cheaper and more cost-effective way of transferring cash.
Fees are agreed by all banks participating in the process, which makes it easier for stable fee structures to be forecast.
Higher speeds are also on the cards.
There is an option, for example, to choose a single payment format, which enhances the processing procedure.
In a statement, a senior figure at SWIFT explained that the popularity base of the service is already in existence.
David Watson, who serves as the firm’s chief strategy officer, said that there were already “thousands” of financial services institutions using the service, which is known as a ‘gpi’.
“The success of SWIFT gpi, which is used by thousands of banks and carries billions of payments globally, enables ever-faster transaction processing times and transparency,” he said.
He went on to explain that the firm was predicting a high rate of take-up among smaller firms.
“And it now provides us with the opportunity to transform the experience in the SME and consumer payment markets,” he said.
“We expect that our new gpi initiative for low value cross-border payments will similarly have widespread adoption and help us deliver our vision of making payments brilliantly simple for everyone,” he added.
Some of the banks involved in the development of the new technology have already trialled it.
These include Barclays, BNY Mellon, UniCredit, KEB Hana Bank and several others from across the globe.
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