New digital platform for SWIFT payments
SWIFT announced the launch of a new digital platform, as well as an innovative strategy for instant payments, fearing to completely lose its position in the global financial market.
Is SWIFT changing the whole payment system?
International transfers developed by the Association of worldwide interbank financial telecommunications have always been much slower and more expensive than domestic transfers, so much so that they have recently started to face competition from Ripple in terms of speed and profitability.
This competition is actually forcing the Association to adapt to technological innovation so much that it is now building a next-generation digital platform in the name of sustainability and security.
In addition, the new strategy aims to allow an account to account for transactions anywhere in the world, immediately and seamlessly, with transparency and end-to-end predictability.
All of this will happen in the coming years with the goal of radically transforming payments and transaction processing into securities, and reorganizing the transnational infrastructure as part of this new strategy.
The Association will also expand beyond its current financial messaging sphere of influence to offer comprehensive transaction management services.
The innovative platform will manage the interaction between financial institutions and other participants to minimize friction and optimize speed, while providing end-to-end transparency and predictability. The potential is to support instant transactions between at least 4 billion accounts worldwide.
It will also use APIs and cloud technologies to combine various management, processing, and control services that banks have historically invested in independently. This should also lead to time and cost savings.
To change in order to survive
SWIFT CEO Javier Perez-tasso said:
“We are upgrading the basic infrastructure that financial institutions use to make transactions even faster from start to finish, while at the same time further reducing costs for the community through shared industry services in the areas of cyber security, fraud, and regulatory compliance.
We will present innovative data solutions that incorporate elements of risk and control, providing peace of mind for mission-critical business operations. By combining these elements, we create a broad platform with faster technologies and smarter and better services that the industry can trust as the basis for innovation towards its end customers.”
Head of global transaction banking at Intesa Sanpaolo Stefano Favale commented:
“We are very happy with how SWIFT is working to make payments easier and more convenient. This way, our core business will be ready for the challenges of the future, while remaining competitive with new competitors by reducing risks and simplifying operational efficiency. And the crucial factor is being able to focus our resources on what we care most about-creating real value for our customers.”
According to Yavar Shah, head of the society for global interbank financial telecommunications, the Association will fundamentally change the way payments and securities transactions are processed over the next two years. In addition, SWIFT will continue to serve banks and market infrastructure in accordance with its mission.