SWIFT reveals that it has launched SWIFT Go, a service that enables small businesses and consumers to send “fast, predictable, highly secure, and competitively priced low-value” cross-border payments across the globe.
Payments may be sent directly from users’ bank accounts. Seven international banking institutions, which handle 33 million “low-value” cross-border transactions yearly, are “already live with the service.”
As explained in a release, SWIFT Go “enables financial institutions to offer a seamless payments experience for low value transactions often initiated by SMEs to pay suppliers overseas and by consumers sending money to friends and family internationally.”
The announcement further noted that by using “tighter” service level agreements between institutions and pre-validation of data, SWIFT Go “enables banks to provide their end customers a fast and predictable payments experience with upfront visibility on processing times and costs.”
As stated in the release:
“The SWIFT Go service builds on the high-speed rails of SWIFT gpi, which have transformed the speed and predictability of high-value payments. The service marks another milestone in SWIFT’s strategy to enable instant and frictionless transactions from one account to another, across SWIFT’s network that connects more than 11,000 institutions, and 4 billion accounts across 200 countries worldwide.”
The announcement also mentioned that it will “further strengthen the capabilities of banks to serve their customers in the high-growth small business and consumer payments segments.”
Stephen Gilderdale, Chief Product Officer, at SWIFT stated:
“SWIFT Go is a further step towards achieving our vision of enabling anybody, anywhere, to send money instantly and securely around the world. The new service is a direct response to the needs of small businesses and consumers for fast, easy, predictable, secure and competitively priced cross-border payments. Our new service will allow banks to compete effectively in one of the fastest growing segments of the payments market, delivering a seamless experience for their customers.”
SWIFT Go was created in collaboration with the SWIFT community and is “underpinned” by several key pillars:
- Speed: Tighter service levels between banks increase speed. A single payment format increases straight-through processing, while services such as pre-validation remove frictions that cause delays.
- Predictability: The amount, time, fees and FX rate of a payment are known in advance. The sender and receiver of a payment can track the status in real-time.
- Easy to use: The user experience is simple and streamlined, with data requirements known upfront. Strict network validation provides for easy initiation and processing of SWIFT Go payments
- Competitive prices: Processing fees are agreed between financial institutions upfront so they can provide their customers with full transparency; increased straight-through processing further reduces processing costs.
- Security: Senders and receivers have peace of mind that payments are underpinned by the strong security of the SWIFT network.
Seven major international banks are currently using SWIFT Go live: BBVA; Bank of New York Mellon; DNB; MYBank; Sberbank; Société Générale, and UniCredit.
Raouf Soussi, Head of Enterprise Payments Strategy of Client Solutions, BBVA added:
“BBVA is very excited to be one of the first banks to sign up to SWIFT Go and we recognise the potential of this solution to revolutionise the way SMEs and consumers move money around the world. We have listened closely to our customers and we know how much they value a secure service that ensures payments reach their destination quickly and seamlessly.”
Isabel Schmidt, Head of Direct Clearing and Asset Account Services Products, Bank of New York Mellon remarked:
“It’s no secret that for many years consumers and small businesses have been running into varying pain points when transacting international payments. These challenges have included opaque costs and lack of certainty on how quickly funds are delivered to the final beneficiary. This is why BNY Mellon is pleased to be the first US bank to go live with SWIFT Go, a new service that overcomes all of these challenges and assists financial institutions in delivering a competitive, seamless, fast and predictable payments experience to their customers.”