SWIFT Streamlines Cross-Border Payments for Corporate Clients with ISO 20022

A Report by CYS Global Remit FinTech Development Unit 

SWIFT, the extensive messaging network employed by financial institutions for secure information and instruction transmission via standardized codes, has announced a significant upgrade aimed at enhancing the cross-border payment experience for corporate customers. 

This financial messaging network will implement ISO 20022 across the entire payment chain and offer banks ready-to-use tracking services. By standardizing payments end-to-end with ISO 20022, SWIFT enables financial institutions to capture detailed data from the outset. ISO 20022 represents a unified standardization approach—encompassing methodology, process, and repository—intended for use across all financial standards initiatives. 

Furthermore, banks will be able to provide customers with white-labeled payment tracking services via API or messaging channels, ensuring complete transparency on payment statuses and confirmations. Presently, corporate payments are impeded by various standards and formats, resulting in a fragmented landscape for multi-banked corporations. SWIFT’s new initiative aims to unify this process, leveraging ISO 20022’s detailed data to facilitate automation and reduce integration costs. 

SWIFT’s efforts are in line with the G20’s objectives for cross-border payments. Currently, 89% of payments on SWIFT’s network reach the beneficiary bank within an hour, exceeding the G20’s goal of 75% by 2027. Many members of SWIFT’s working group are already piloting the new capabilities, with plans to extend them to the broader community later this year. 

Thierry Chilosi, Chief Strategy Officer at SWIFT, stated:

“The adoption of ISO 20022 provides a unique opportunity to improve cross-border payments. Capturing rich data at the source will enhance the entire ecosystem, driving us closer to our goals of instant and frictionless transactions. We are thrilled to facilitate our community in extending these benefits to their customers, while simplifying and standardizing access to essential services such as tracking, which are crucial for efficient corporate treasury.”  

CYS Global Remit supports the notion that transparency is vital to consumer confidence and plans to incorporate this status update into our product offerings once available. 

The article is published by Fintech News Singapore, a source of timely, deep insights and the latest local and global news about Fintech. 

Source: Fintechnews