All cross-border payments in the trial, which involved 17 banks across 7 countries, settled end-to-end within 25 seconds. SWIFT gpi has also now been introduced for corporates.
SWIFT has completed a global trial to integrate SWIFT gpi Instant – its cross-border instant payments service – into Singapore’s domestic instant payment service, known as FAST (Fast And Secure Transfers).
SWIFT gpi Instant reuses existing cross-border and domestic payments infrastructure, minimising implementation costs for users and allowing them to avoid the complexities of adopting new cross-border infrastructure.
The latest trial involved 11 banks across six countries – Australia, China, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Thailand – initiating payments into six banks in Singapore, which processed the payments domestically via the FAST system.
All cross-border payments in the trial settled end-to-end within 25 seconds. The fastest settlement was from Australia to Singapore, completed in just 13 seconds.
“The final leg of cross-border payments often introduces delays due to domestic clearance and settlement. However, gpi Instant capitalises on the 24×7 availability of instant payment systems such as FAST, to enable payment settlement in the destination market, even outside normal business hours,” SWIFT said in a statement.
Participants in the trial with Singapore’s FAST included DBS, HSBC, OCBC, Standard Chartered; Australia’s big four banks ANZ, CBA, NAB, Westpac; Thailand’s Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial Bank; China’s BOC, ICBC; and Canada’s RBS and Luxembourg’s BIL.
The completion of the global trial with FAST follows a 2018 test with a group of banks and Australia’s domestic instant payment service – known as the NPP (New Payments Platform) – which saw payments from China to Australia taking just 18 seconds.
SWIFT’s next gpi trial will involve Europe’s TIPS (TARGET Instant Payments Settlement). “Together, the TIPS, FAST and NPP instant payment systems are the first of many domestic real-time infrastructures, connected via the banks and using gpi that will enable a globally-scalable instant cross-border payments service,” SWIFT said.
“Additional tests are planned in other markets with instant payment systems, ahead of the planned global launch of gpi Instant later this year.”
SWIFT gpi was initially launched in January 2017, to improve cross-border payments by increasing their speed, transparency and end-to-end tracking. About USD 300 billion in cross-border payments are currently sent every day using the standard.
Last week, SWIFT also announced the introduction of the gpi service for corporates, whereby multi-jurisdictional firms are able to initiate and track payments across multiple banks directly from their treasury and payment systems.
The go-live follows a successful pilot with 22 corporates and banks, including Airbus, Booking.com, General Electric, BAML, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered, among others.
