Global banks prepare for gpi go-live in early 2017
Sibos – Geneva, 28 September 2016 – SWIFT announces today it has successfully completed the first phase of the global payments innovation (gpi) initiative pilot, clearing the way for the go-live of the service in early 2017.
During the pilot, 15 global banks representing more than 30 percent of cross-border payments successfully tested the design and core functions of the gpi, while in parallel, ten additional global banks started to prepare for the service’s launch.
“The gpi pilot banks prove that our innovative approach to cross-border payments works,” says Wim Raymaekers, Global Head of the Banking Market and project lead for the initiative. “Based on their feedback, we know the implementation period for gpi can be quick – within six months. This is great news for SWIFT and the banking community. Through innovative thinking, which is the backbone of this initiative, and collaboration, we are empowering banks to use existing platforms and combined that with innovative technology provided by SWIFT to facilitate end-to-end payments tracking.”
A new initiative from SWIFT and the global banking community, SWIFT gpi is designed to significantly improve the customer experience in correspondent banking by increasing the speed, transparency and end-to-end tracking of cross-border payments. In addition, the gpi initiative will deliver another major innovation with the provision of end-to-end payments tracking. The payments tracking service will be hosted in the cloud, based on a global tracking database hosted by SWIFT. The new SWIFT gpi tracker will be demo-ed at Sibos 2016.
“The early success of the pilot is a great milestone for SWIFT and the participating banks,” says the SWIFT gpi project leader at Bank of China, one of the most advanced banks in the SWIFT gpi implementation. “It is amazing to see how much we can accomplish as an industry in just a short period of time. Collaboration is key, and the speed to which SWIFT and the pilot banks mobilised the banking community to change their approach to cross border payments and follow a set of innovative business process rules has been a herculean effort.”
“The preliminary results from the gpi pilot are encouraging,” says Michael Pavkovic, VP, Payment and Trade Operations at Royal Bank of Canada. “We are pleased to be an active participant in the development of a service that can create an improved user experience for our clients.”
In total, more than 80 global banks have now signed up to participate in the gpi initiative. Banks that have recently joined include Budapest Bank, China Merchants Bank, China Construction Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen – and additional banks are joining each month.
The SWIFT gpi initiative is a significant step forward in cross-border payments innovation, helping banks to provide a faster, more information-rich and more transparent payments service. Together, the banks that have already signed up account for 71% of all cross-border payments on the SWIFT network. Such strong participation from major global banks illustrates the importance of this initiative and the industry’s commitment to offering greater speed, transparency and traceability in cross-border payments.
To find out more about the future of payments in the Middle East from industry experts and learn more about SWIFT gpi, join representatives from across the banking sector at the SWIFT Business Forum UAE on 7 December 2016. The programme will also focus on financial crime compliance, the challenges of managing cyber risk and the economic outlook for the region.
See swift.com/gpi for more information and the full list of participating banks.
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About SWIFT
SWIFT is a global member-owned cooperative and the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services. We provide our community with a platform for messaging, standards for communicating and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration; identification, analysis and financial crime compliance. Our messaging platform, products and services connect more than 11,000 banking and securities organisations, market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories, enabling them to communicate securely and exchange standardised financial messages in a reliable way. As their trusted provider, we facilitate global and local financial flows, support trade and commerce all around the world; we relentlessly pursue operational excellence and continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Headquartered in Belgium, SWIFT’s international governance and oversight reinforces the neutral, global character of its cooperative structure. SWIFT’s global office network ensures an active presence in all the major financial centres.
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