SWIFT Takes Swipe At Ripple With A Cheaper Cross-border Payment System
Global messaging network SWIFT has introduced a new service aimed at offering low-value, cross-border payments.
SWIFT GO Launches Live With Seven Major Banks
The new service dubbed SWIFT Go has been launched and is already being used by seven major global banks. The banks include BBVA, BNY Mellon, DNB, MYBank, Sberbank, Societe Generale, and UniCredit.
SWIFT GO is designed to enable businesses and consumers to send payments quickly and securely anywhere in the world directly from their bank accounts, per the press release.
The service pre-validates data and uses tighter service level agreements between institutions to enable banks to provide customers with a fast and predictable payments experience. SWIFT GO runs on SWIFT GPI (global payment innovation), which deals with high-value payments.
Speaking on the new unveiling Stephen Gilderdale, Chief Product Officer, at SWIFT said:
“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.”
Besides SWIFT GO, the financial network also plans to roll out a new platform for international payments in November next year.
The new platform, according to SWIFT, would include features such as an extension of SWIFT’s high-speed system to lower-value payments and incorporation of the universal messaging standard for international payments.
Founded in 1977, SWIFT is a global messaging network connecting banks and other financial institutions for cross-border payments. It links more than 11,000 institutions. The company transmitted more than 350 million messages containing financial information last month alone.
SWIFT Enters Ripple Cross-Border Payment Territory
SWIFT’s new move of entering the cross-border payment scene with the SWIFT Go product may be seen as an attempt to compete with Ripple. The Blockchain company is one of the firms that have taken the lead in addressing issues in cross-border payments.
SWIFT’s new product has stepped up the company’s payment system by providing faster settlement times and an ability to track payments. In 2019, 50% of GPI payments were credited to beneficiaries within 30 minutes and almost 100% within 24 hours.
Although it seemed like a great accomplishment at the time, Ripple CEO Bradley Garlinghouse said in a conference that the SWIFT system of transferring money was well out of date. According to him, at least six percent of SWIFT transactions cannot happen without being supervised by human operators.
