UK-headquartered Fintech Wise (LSE:WISE) has reportedly gained direct access to Japan’s payment clearing network.
As first reported by Reuters, Wise is said to have become the first foreign company to receive approval for direct access to Japan’s bank payment clearing network (know as Zengin).
Wise has stated that access to the system should enable it to bypass intermediary banking institutions which process and settle transactions across Japan, thus helping with lowering fees and cutting down on overall processing times.
If Wise manages to achieve what it plans to, then this may increase pressure and boost competition within Japan’s payments ecosystem.
As revealed by World Bank data, the cost of remittance payments in Japan is the amongst the highest of the G20 nations (at a considerable 6.94%).
Wise revealed that their average fee for cross-border payments is 0.67%.
This latest update has been revealed after Wise obtained its license from the Reserve Bank of India, taking on the fast-growing Indian remittance payments sector.
As covered, Swift and Wise say they will increase cross-border payment options for financial institutions and their customers, enabling payments sent via Swift to be completed over Wise with end-to-end transparency.
Financial institutions seeking to innovate their offerings “will be able to route Swift payment messages directly to Wise Platform – Wise’s infrastructure solution for banks and major enterprises — through its latest Correspondent Services solution.”
This will enable their customers to benefit from the speed and convenience of Wise, and the breadth of Swift without needing to implement “any major changes to their systems.”
Wise Platform will harness advanced Swift capabilities to power its service, including cloud and API connectivity and Payment Pre-validation and will continue to “offer banks all the hallmark features of Swift GPI, including a payment status tracker which Wise Platform will update to ensure end-to-end visibility across both networks.”
The collab, unveiked in Toronto at the Sibos conference, is the start of a broader relationship, and comes as fragmentation in the financial ecosystem is creating ways for money to move — and more “consumer demand for choice.”
