SWIFT GPI: Transforming Cross-Border Payments for Corporates

As the global financial industry prepares to gather in London for Sibos 2019, Marc Delbaere, SWIFT’s Global Head of Corporates and Trade, looks at how SWIFT is working with corporates to stay ahead in a fast evolving environment.

At SWIFT, we understand treasurers’ reliance on efficient cross-border payments processing – with speed, certainty and transparency all vital elements to running effective treasury and cash management operations. Just a few years ago, when a payment went missing along the way, treasurers found it extremely time consuming and costly to find out what happened and to fix it. Banks would send a request following the route of the payment – chasing it from one bank to the next.

Since 2017, when SWIFT launched its global payments innovation (gpi), the cross-border payments experience for corporate treasurers has been transformed. The speed, transparency and trackability afforded by gpi allows them to reduce payment investigations, improve supplier relationships and speed up invoice reconciliation.

Benefitting from the service through their banks, gpi allows treasurers to track and trace cross-border payments as if you would a parcel, leading to fewer payment queries and certainty that end-customers have been credited. This transparency, speed and certainty allows corporates to shorten supply cycles, reduce exposure to FX risks and optimise liquidity in the process.

Gpi for corporates

Recently, we have gone even further for our corporate customers. Announced earlier this year, we have designed and built a platform that enables multi-banked corporates to initiate and track payments across multiple banks. Developed jointly by banks and corporates – such as LVMH, Microsoft and Petronas – over 50 organisations have already signed up for the service.

While corporates are already able to check the status of gpi payments through each of their individual banks, our new solution gives them a single, centralised and standardised view across all their banking partners.

SWIFT for corporates is the result of collaboration between corporates and banks to revolutionise cross-border payments for treasurers. It gives users visibility, transparency and control over their entire payment flows and provides them with full transparency over fees and FX so that they can identify the most efficient ways to send their payments around the world. Furthermore, it relieves corporates of the need to adapt their systems for each individual bank they work with.

Sibos 2019

At Sibos, discover how gpi for corporates enables a seamless gpi experience across multiple banks. Join us to explore the multi-bank payment and tracking capabilities it enables based on concrete examples and the insights of our corporate users.

Sibos, the world’s premier financial services event, takes place in London from 23 to 26 September and is packed with sessions and speakers looking at how cross-border payments is evolving for corporates. Take a look at www.sibos.com for more details on the exciting programme we have lined up and information on how to register.