London, UK – SWIFT has developed a new service for low value cross-border payments. The programme will enable banks to provide predictable and frictionless international payments for SMEs. It is expected to be ready by the end of March 2021.

The service builds on SWIFT gpi, and will enable consumers and SMEs to send low value international payments via their financial institutions. Costs and processing times will be known upfront, and real-time status will be available to both originator and beneficiary banks.

A partnership with Pelican, an AI firm, will enable SWIFT low value payments (SLVP) through SWIFT gpi using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques. 

Pelican will add smart validation and intelligent payment data enrichment to the process. Payment data enrichment ensures that the correct BIC Code, IBAN validation and enrichment, and other bank codes, are provided so that there is no human intervention required. 

Carlo Palmers, Head of Payments Solutions at SWIFT, said: “SWIFT gpi has already transformed high-value cross-border payments and its success has provided us with an opportunity to bring its many benefits to the SME and consumer payment markets. Working alongside more than 20 financial institutions and vendors, we will enable these customers to make fast, easy, predictable and competitively priced payments all around the world via their banks.”

Parth Desai, CEO of Pelican, said, “Payment systems are undergoing significant innovation and change, as new technology developments and regulation impacts banks, as well as the expectations of their corporate and retail customers. The success of SWIFT gpi, which is used by thousands of banks and carries billions of payments worldwide, will allow efficient transaction processing and full transparency. This provides an opportunity to transform the experience in the SME and consumer payment markets.”