Remittance payments from anywhere in the world destined for the UK routed through Lloyds can arrive in seconds with fee and foreign exchange transparency.
SWIFT has announced the launch of the first live link of ‘SWIFT gpi Instant’ at Lloyds Banking Group in the UK.
Under the initiative, Lloyds customers will be able to remit instant cross-border payments through Lloyds via the UK Faster Payments system.
“We’re proud to announce the activation of the world’s first live SWIFT gpi Instant connection, a new service that enables consumers and businesses to send payments in seconds across borders, around the clock via their financial institutions,” SWIFT said in a statement.
“Lloyds Banking Group is the first to go live with the service and the UK is the first market where it is available.”
According to SWIFT, remittance payments from anywhere in the world destined for the UK routed through Lloyds can arrive in seconds with fee and foreign exchange transparency, robust security and full regulatory compliance.
The gpi Instant service works by connecting SWIFT gpi, the high-speed cross-border rails, with real-time domestic infrastructure – in this case the UK’s Faster Payments.
It enables banks to use existing infrastructure to provide better service 24/7, with faster speeds, clarity on fees and, crucially, predictability on when an end beneficiary’s account will be credited, SWIFT said.
The go-live follows a successful pilot that took place earlier this year – which involved Lloyds, Barclays, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, DBS, Wells Fargo and BBVA – which saw cross-border payments credited to accounts in the UK in seconds.
It built on the proofs of concept run by SWIFT and market infrastructures in Singapore, Australia and Europe over the past two years.
Adoption of the gpi Instant service is expected to continue globally as demand for instant cross-border payments rises. The service is a building block in SWIFT’s new strategy, announced in September, to enable instant, frictionless payments from account-to-account anywhere in the world.
SWIFT has also recently announced that it has extended the benefits of SWIFT gpi for MT 103 customer credit transfers and payments to MT 202 and 205 financial institution transfers – which are typically used to perform treasury operations, settle securities and FX transactions, among other use cases.
