SWIFT to attract more banks

SWIFT, the leading provider of secure financial messaging services, plans to attract more Chinese banks to its new global payments innovation service, which it said enables banks to offer a faster, more transparent and traceable cross-border payments service.

SWIFT is promoting its gpi tracker which allows banks to provide corporate treasurers with a real-time, end-to-end view on the status of their payments, including confirmation when payments have been credited to beneficiaries' accounts.

SWIFT is a member-owned cooperative, headquartered in Belgium. Its messaging services are used and trusted by more than 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries and territories around the world.

Currently, Dutch banking giant ABN AMRO, Bank of China, Spain's BBVA, Citibank, Danske Bank, DBS Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, ING Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Nordea Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and UniCredit are live with SWIFT gpi.

It said the customers were exchanging gpi payments across 60 country corridors.

SWIFT added that it was designing the next phase of gpi, which would include additional digital services to further transform the cross-border payment process.

"Customers require more certainty, transparency and traceability in their cross-border payments," said SWIFT gpi head Wim Raymaekers.

"With nearly 100 leading transaction banks already signed up, SWIFT gpi is set to rapidly expand with more banks, new features and additional payment services."

He said six Chinese banks have become customers of SWIFT, which he added was bullish on the Chinese market and was planning to attract more Chinese banks in the future.

Recently the Bank of China processed its first international remittance using the SWIFT gpi service, the BOC said.

"Successfully going live with the SWIFT gpi service is a big event in global financial industry and marks an important milestone in correspondent banking cross-border payments," said Sun Shangbin, deputy general manager of clearing department at Bank of China.

He said his bank had actively participated in SWIFT gpi to improve its customer experiences.

He added that after having gone live with the SWIFT gpi service, his bank would continue to strengthen its multi-currency, multi-channel international payment services.

Jiang Xueqing contributed to the story.