Corporates pilot to start testing new multi-bank payments tracking on SWIFT gpi

HONG KONG and SINGAPORE,July 26,2018 -- SWIFT,along with a number of corporates and banks,today announces plans to start testing an enhanced multi-bank standard to further improve the cross-border payments experience for multi-banked corporates. This enhanced standard,designed and built in conjunction with 10 multinational corporates and 12 leading banks,streamlines the process for corporate treasurers by allowing them to initiate and track gpi payments to and from multiple banks in a single format and integrate gpi flows in ERP and Treasury Management Systems.

The first-of-its kind,this cross-industry collaboration tailors SWIFT's global payments innovation (gpi) for multi-banked corporates,by introducing a common solution delivered in the same way by all gpi banks. This new standard will enable application providers and banks to give corporates better visibility and transparency,improving payments certainty,traceability,exception handling and allowing them to reconcile directly in their treasury operations. Pilot participants are to begin a test phase ahead of bringing this flow into production in the next few months.

Corporates and banks participating in the pilot include Airbus,Bank of America Merrill Lynch,BBVA,BNP Paribas,Booking.com,Borealis,Citi,Deutsche Bank,General Electric,IATA,Intesa Sanpaolo,J.P. Morgan,LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton,Microsoft,National Australia Bank,Ping An Group,Roche,RTL Group,Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation,Societe Generale,Standard Chartered Bank and UniCredit. Together with the pilot participants SWIFT has invited leading treasury application providers to integrate the gpi flows into their own systems in order to deliver a fully embedded gpi experience in corporate treasury systems.

Lisa Wagner,Group Treasury Manager at Microsoft said,"The ability to access a greater level of payment information in a timely manner through SWIFT gpi will bring immediate benefits to our payments experience with greater transparency and responsiveness to our vendors. Providing multi-bank information all in one place and in the same format fits into our modern finance roadmap."

"We are very pleased to participate in the SWIFT gpi for Corporates pilot," says Martin Schlageter,Head of Treasury Operations at Roche."There are many challenges to tackle with cross-border payments but SWIFT gpi,combined with the broader SWIFT for Corporates programme,will bring considerable benefits to improving the transparency and visibility of our cross-border payments."

The standard design has been developed through a series of SWIFT-led co-creation workshops with pilot banks and corporates. It supports FIN & ISO 20022 standards to allow corporates to access their payments status across SWIFT and bank proprietary channels.

"Corporates want a faster payments experience,with real-time tracking and certainty of credit to end beneficiaries. They also value transparency and the predictability of payment information such as transaction fees and foreign exchanges rates that SWIFT gpi offers," says Stella Lim,Head of Corporate Sales,Asia Pacific at SWIFT. "This new capability will enable that experience for Corporates in a consistent,scaled fashion across multiple banks. It provides real-time information in the corporate treasury space,which the corporate customers are asking for."

Launched in early 2017,gpi already has over 180 banks signed up,and accounts for nearly 30% of SWIFT cross-border payment traffic. More than 100 billion USD in SWIFT gpi messages is sent every day,enabling payments to be credited to end beneficiaries within minutes-- many within seconds.

To date,35 million gpi payments have been sent across 450 country corridors,in more than 100 currencies. In major corridors,such as USA-China,gpi already accounts for nearly 50% of payment traffic.

Press Contacts:

Jaime Lee

+852 2107 8860

jaime.lee@swift.com

Notes to editors:

About gpi

The SWIFT global payments innovation (SWIFT gpi) is the largest change in cross-border payments over the last 30 years and is the new standard. SWIFT gpi dramatically improves the customer experience in cross-border payments by increasing their speed,transparency and end-to-end tracking. Hundreds of thousands of cross-border payments are today being sent using the new gpi standard,and payments are made quickly,typically within minutes,even seconds.

SWIFT gpi allows corporates to receive an enhanced payments service,with the following key features:

Faster,same day use of funds within the time zone of the receiving gpi member

Transparency of fees

End-to-end payments tracking

Remittance information transferred unaltered

As an initiative,SWIFT gpi engages the global banking industry and fintech communities to innovate in the area of cross-border payments while reducing their back-office costs. Since its launch in January 2017,gpi has dramatically improved the cross-border payments experience for corporates in over 450 country corridors. Key features of the gpi service include enhanced business rules and a secure tracking database in the cloud accessible via APIs. Thanks to SWIFT gpi,corporates can grow their international business,improve supplier relationships,and achieve greater treasury efficiencies. Overall,nearly 50% of SWIFT gpi payments are credited to end beneficiaries within 30 minutes,and almost 100% of payments within 24 hours. Those that take longer typically involve more complex foreign exchange conversions,compliance checks or regulatory authorisations.

In addition to the more than 180 financial institutions that have adopted gpi,more than 55 payment market infrastructures are already exchanging gpi payments,enabling domestic exchange and tracking. Payment market infrastructures have a critical role to play in facilitating the end-to-end tracking of cross-border payments because as soon as international payments hit the destination country,they are typically cleared through local payment infrastructures.

About SWIFT

SWIFT is a global member owned cooperative and the world's leading provider of secure financial messaging services. We provide our community with a platform for messaging and standards for communicating,and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration,identification,analysis and regulatory compliance.

Our messaging platform,products and services connect more than 11,000 banking and securities organisations,market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories. While SWIFT does not hold funds or manage accounts on behalf of customers,we enable our global community of users to communicate securely,exchanging standardised financial messages in a reliable way,thereby supporting global and local financial flows,as well as trade and commerce all around the world.

As their trusted provider,we relentlessly pursue operational excellence; we support our community in addressing cyber threats; and we continually seek ways to lower costs,reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Our products and services support our community's access and integration,business intelligence,reference data and financial crime compliance needs. SWIFT also brings the financial community together-- at global,regional and local levels-- to shape market practice,define standards and debate issues of mutual interest or concern. SWIFT's strategic five year plan,SWIFT2020,challenges SWIFT to continue investing in the security,reliability and growth of its core messaging platform,while making additional investments in existing services and delivering new and innovative solutions.

Headquartered in Belgium,SWIFT's international governance and oversight reinforces the neutral,global character of its cooperative structure. SWIFT's global office network ensures an active presence in all the major financial centres.

For more information,visit www.swift.com or follow us on Twitter: @swiftcommunity and LinkedIn: SWIFT.

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