SWIFT unveils industry’s first ever cross-border payments tracker

Corporate treasurers can now find out where a payment is at any given time

SWIFT announces today the availability of its new cross-border payments Tracker that enables international payments to be traced in real-time. The Tracker is the cornerstone of SWIFT gpi – the cooperative’s new payments innovation service – which is revolutionizing the industry by combining real-time payments tracking with the speed and certainty of same-day settlement for international payments.

„Available since in January 2017, more than 20 global transaction banks are using or implementing the SWIFT gpi service, with another 50 in the implementation pipeline. Hundreds of thousands of gpi payments have already been sent across more than 85 country corridors.”, according to the press release.

“Uptake of SWIFT’s gpi service has been encouraging and the addition of the Tracker capability can only help build momentum and accelerate adoption of the service in international payments,” says David Bannister, Principal Analyst, Ovum. “The most common complaint from corporates is the lack of visibility on their payments’ status. With the Tracker capability, SWIFT gpi tackles that issue and will be a useful tool to help corporate treasurers to execute their core responsibilities.”

SWIFT gpi enables companies engaged in international trade to get paid for services, or delivery of goods, in a more timely fashion, enabling a faster supply chain process. The highly innovative gpi Tracker provides corporate treasurers with a real-time, end-to-end view of their payments combined with a confirmation notice when the money reaches the recipient’s account.

It also enables a more accurate reconciliation of payments and invoices, optimizes liquidity with improved cash forecasts and reduces exposure to FX risks with same-day processing of funds in the beneficiary’s time zone. The Tracker is available via an open API, making it compatible with proprietary banking systems worldwide – helping to ensure maximum impact of gpi benefits at a greater adoption speed.

SWIFT gpi has garnered considerable industry support across the globe. More than 110 leading transaction banks have committed to the service, representing over 75% of all SWIFT cross-border payments.

The service is also compatible with and integrated into domestic payment market infrastructures (MIs) across the globe, facilitating local clearing and settlement of gpi payments. Banks can already exchange gpi payments over the 56 SWIFT-connected MIs as well as other MIs that have established local market practices for their participants that use the gpi service. SWIFT will also continue to actively engage with additional MI communities for future gpi compatibility.

“Today’s announcement is a significant step towards a game-changing experience for corporates the world over,” says Christian Sarafidis, Chief Marketing Officer, SWIFT. “By taking advantage of the right technology, at the right time, with the right players behind us, SWIFT has successfully helped correspondent banking reach a significant milestone in its evolution.”

Wim Raymaekers, Programme Manager for SWIFT gpi adds, “This is only the beginning for SWIFT gpi. We will continue to explore new technologies, such as blockchain, and deliver more value added payment services further transforming the international payments landscape and, in doing so, accelerating global trade.”

Comments from the participating banks:

“Transparency is key to a good end-to-end client experience. SWIFT gpi is a significant step in the evolution of correspondent banking, which remains the primary means through which cross-border payments are delivered worldwide. Bank of America Merrill Lynch is pleased to be working with like-minded institutions around the world to better serve each other and our respective customers.”- Greg Murray, head of Global Product Management for High Value Payments and FI/NBFI Products in Global Transaction Services at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

“As one of the earliest banks participating in SWIFT gpi, Bank of China (BOC) has not only achieved good results with a leading position in the implementation of gpi, but also played an important role in rule making, pilot testing and long-term planning. In January of this year, BOC has become one of the go-live banks in the world. Up to now, our gpi business has covered 50 domestic and overseas BOC branches and 11 major currencies, with rapid growth of channels and customer coverage. Meanwhile, based on gpi, we have launched “Bank of China, Global Payment Intelligence” (BOC-GPI). Since gpi went live in January, we have received good feedbacks from both customers and markets. SWIFT gpi is gradually becoming a preferred or even favoured payment product choice for customers. (…) We hope that gpi will soon become a new normal in global cross-border payment. – Mr. Wu Jianguang, General Manager of Clearing Dept, Bank of China.

“Reducing friction in cross-border payments is a priority for us and our clients. Through effective collaboration, SWIFT and its members have created an innovative solution that will make the payments process simpler for all parties. We’re always aiming to make day-to-day banking easier for our clients, and look forward to introducing the gpi service to help achieve this goal.” – Dan Roberts, Head of Transaction Banking Products and Services at Barclays Corporate Banking.

“At BNP Paribas, we are proud to be an active participant in Swift gpi since day 1. We are committed to help the community grow fast and strive for making gpi the new normal. “- Philippe Vexlard, Head of Correspondent Banking CIB EMEA, BNP Paribas.

“Denizbank has been one of the first banks to join SWIFT gpi in Turkey. Now with SWIFT gpi, it will be able to give further traceability and transparency on the cross border payments. We believe that soon , SWIFT gpi will be the global standard for corresponding banking. Being awarded as the most innovative bank in the world in BAI 2014, EFMA 2015 and BAI 2016, Denizbank will be a pioneer SWIFT gpi user as part of our operational excellence approach “ – Mustafa ÖZEL , Executive Vice President, Branch and Central Operations, Denizbank.

“The cloud based tracker accessible via API is the ‘innovative component’ of the gpi initiative. It connects all payment parties and fosters a better level of client experience.” – Christian Westerhaus, Head of Product and Strategy, Institutional Cash Management, Deutsche Bank.

“SWIFT gpi is one of the key innovation initiatives in the cross-border payments space that could happen to our customers. It is fast, transparent, trackable and moreover it is done within a trusted network.” – Petia Niederländer, Head of Group Retail & Corporates Operations & Tanja Peic, Head of Payments Operations & Clearing, Erste Group.

“Through this cooperative effort, SWIFT global payments innovation initiative will provide our customers the ability to see where their payments are at any point in the transaction process and provide visibility of fees and FX rates.” – Emma Loftus, Head of Global Payments and FX for J.P. Morgan.

“SWIFT gpi is critical for the banking industry to remain relevant and competitive in the cross-border payments space. “- Greg Trotter, Head of Cash Management, Global Transaction Banking, OCBC Bank.

“Our focus is on increased efficiency and continuous improvement of our customer services. Therefore RBI is delighted to be part of SWIFT gpi. It is a highly important project as we see the need to further enhance cross-border payment services as well as the added value of end-to-end payment tracking and enhanced transparency.” – Susanne Prager, Head of Cash Management, Raiffeisen Bank International AG.

“We believe SWIFT gpi made another critical step towards innovation in cross-border payments services. Seeing more banks taking up gpi prove the success of this initiative. SMBC is proud to be a part of this initiative from the pilot and keen to bring new experience to our customer soon.” – Airo Shibuya, Senior General Manager, Transaction Business Planning Dept., Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.

“Since we went live with gpi, we identified strong interest from corporates wanting to take advantage of this new service.” “We are developing pilot projects for large corporate clients so they can benefit from gpi directly via their SWIFT connectivity, whilst updating our banking portals for smaller clients. To offer a complete package to corporates, more gpi corridors and currency options are required,” Kupfer says. “We are confident this will naturally grow over time when more banks join gpi. Furthermore we are about to build a coherent offer for gpi banks internationally with the aim of becoming their go-to bank in corridors where we are active.”- Jan Kupfer, Global Co-Head of Global Transaction Banking at UniCredit.

“As a pioneer of banking sector’s recent developments in innovation and digital transformation, Yapı Kredi has decided to be a member of SWIFT global payments innovation (gpi). SWIFT gpi will add value to our clients’ cross-border payments through reduced settlement time, improved reconciliation and forecast reporting speed and visibility on the payments. Yapı Kredi, as the “Digital Bank of Turkey”, will continue to invest in further innovative approaches.” – Aycan Ozden, Financial Institutions – Regional Head – Yapi Kredi.