SWIFT’s gpi driving real-time payments tracking into corporate treasury systems

Corporates and banks are set to start testing a new multi-bank payments tracking solution on SWIFT gpi

SWIFT, along with a number of corporates and banks, is to start testing an enhanced standard which will allow corporate treasurers to initiate and track gpi payments to and from multiple banks and integrate gpi flows in ERP and Treasury Management Systems.

„Since its launch early last year, SWIFT’s global payments innovation (gpi) continues to demonstrate its game-changing role. It now counts some of the largest global transaction banks amongst its 180+ membership and together with corporate treasurers from leading international organisations from around the world, is starting to realise its ambition to modernise the cross-border B2B payments experience.”, according to the press release.

Cross-industry collaboration is key, as demonstrated by a first-of-its kind SWIFT facilitated Corporates pilot which has recently brought together 10 multinational corporates and 12 gpi banks to explore how best to bring real-time payments tracking into corporate treasury applications.

Corporates and banks participating in the pilot include Airbus, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BBVA, BNP Paribas, Booking.com, Borealis, Citi, Deutsche Bank, General Electric, IATA, Intesa Sanpaolo, JPMorgan, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Microsoft, National Australia Bank, Ping An Group, Roche, RTL Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Société Générale, Standard Chartered Bank and UniCredit. Swift has also invited leading treasury application providers to embed the payments messages generated under the trial into their own systems.

”Corporates want to track payments in real time and get confirmation of credit to the beneficiary’s account,” says Marc Delbaere, Global Head of Corporates at SWIFT.

„For the corporate treasurer dependent on more than one bank or branch for its cross-border payments (often called multi-banked corporates), this experience is rarely consistent, fast or efficient. The pilot has brought us together to design, build and now test a new standard which we believe will significantly improve this multi-bank capability and address the need for clear, immediate and trackable information in the corporate treasury space.”

“We are very pleased to participate in the SWIFT gpi for Corporates pilot,” says Martin Schlageter, Head of Treasury Operations at Roche. “There are many challenges to tackle with cross-border payments but SWIFT gpi, combined with the broader SWIFT for Corporates programme, will bring considerable benefits to improving the transparency and visibility of our cross-border payments.”

Lisa Wagner, Group Treasury Manager at Microsoft said: ” The ability to access a greater level of payment information in a timely manner through SWIFT gpi will bring immediate benefits to our payments experience with greater transparency and responsiveness to our vendors. Providing multi-bank information all in one place and in the same format fits into our modern finance roadmap.”

In the run-up to this pilot testing phase, SWIFT facilitated a series of co-creation workshops with banks and corporates. The pilot inputs support FIN & ISO 20022 standards to allow corporates to access their payments status across SWIFT and bank proprietary channels. Find out more about the pilot.