Swift, the global financial messaging system, has partnered with Wise, the international money transfer company, to expand cross-border payment options for financial institutions and their customers worldwide.
The partnership, initially announced at the annual Sibos conference in Toronto on 18 September 2023, allows secure Swift transfers to be completed over Wise’s network, providing full transparency and enhanced efficiency.
Financial institutions can now route Swift payment messages directly to Wise Platform – Wise’s infrastructure solution for banks and major enterprises – through its Correspondent Services solution. This integration allows customers to benefit from Wise’s speed and convenience, combined with Swift’s extensive reach, without changing existing banking systems much.
Steve Naudé, Managing Director of Wise Platform, explained the rationale behind the partnership: “We know that banks face a number of challenges when it comes to enhancing their international payments, including that this often requires them to embed technology which is incompatible with legacy infrastructure.
“By simultaneously leveraging existing payments architecture and optimising payouts using Wise’s global network, we are empowering banks to innovate effortlessly.”
The collaboration harnesses Swift capabilities like cloud and API connectivity and Payment Pre-validation. Wise Platform continues to offer banks all the features of Swift GPI, including a payment status tracker that Wise Platform updates to ensure end-to-end visibility across both networks.
It also capitalises on Wise’s performance metrics, with over 57% of customers’ cross-border payments settling in under 20 seconds, and over 90% settling within an hour.
Thierry Chilosi, Chief Strategy Officer at Swift, emphasized the significance of this partnership: “Swift has built an infrastructure that connects the world, that is trusted and relied upon every day. Our collaboration with Wise illustrates how Swift can be the bedrock from which the whole industry can innovate to improve cross-border payments and enhance the options available for customers across the globe.”
Financial institutions can now access these benefits through a simple configuration change, instantly providing their customers with faster, lower-cost, and more convenient international payments.
Both G20 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight the imperative of improving the transparency, speed, and accessibility of cross-border transactions.
The collaboration between Swift and Wise promisees to offer financial institutions and their customers more flexibility and efficiency in global payments.
