SWIFT introduces new payments strategy
With the pandemic accelerating digital transformation and the move to real-time payments and API-based open banking, entrenched incumbents are being forced to revamp their offerings. In this, global payments consortium SWIFT has announced its new plan and strategy for securities processing and cross-border payments infrastructure which was approved by its Board.
This will be implemented in the span of the next two years and SWIFT believes that it would provide financial institutions to deliver instant and frictionless end-to-end transactions – and therefore keep SWIFT relevant in the new API-based world.
The new approach according to SWIFT will ‘support and accelerate innovation, paving the way for financial institutions either independently or in collaboration with fintechs to create new value-added services to support their business growth’.
Financial institutions will be able to expand their offerings and also have benefit improved reconciliation, reporting and asset servicing processes as well as end-to-end visibility of transactions to reduce settlement fails and fines, SWIFT noted in their press release.
This move by SWIFT will have instant transaction potential between 4 billion potential accounts by financial institutions over its network. It will use an API interface which will interact between multiple software intermediaries and cloud technology providers. According to SWIFT, this platform will reach across more than 11,000 institutions in 200 countries.
In separate news, last week California-based payments solution provider VSoft Corporation launched its new network, Bread, for real-time B2B payments.