Diamond group becomes first to sign up SWIFT speedy service

April 17, 2019 in Business, Companies, Finance, Financial Services by Editor

SWIFT gpi is already carrying over $300 billion a day in 148 currencies across more than 1,100 country corridors.

April 17—The Diamond Trust Bank Group has become first East African bank to go live on SWIFT’s global payments innovation (gpi) service.

This is a rapid cross-border payments service that includes real-time payments tracking and transparency on transaction fees and foreign exchange rates.

“Reducing friction in cross-border payments is a priority for us and our clients. As the first East African bank to go live on gpi, we are now offering our corporate customers faster, more transparent and traceable cross-border payments. SWIFT gpi addresses some of the biggest challenges around cross-border payments and makes the process simpler for all parties,” Suraj Shah, Head Of Centralised Operations, Diamond Trust Bank said earlier this week.

SWIFT is a global member owned cooperative and the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services. SWIFT gpi is already carrying over $300 billion a day in 148 currencies across more than 1,100 country corridors. More than $40 trillion was transferred over the service in 2018.

Diamond Trust is active in Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The widespread adoption of SWIFT gpi has been driven by demand for a faster, more transparent cross-border payments service.

Around 40 pc of SWIFT gpi payments are credited to end-beneficiaries within five minutes. Half are credited within 30 minutes; three quarters within six hours; and almost 100 pc within 24 hours.

Denis Kruger, Head of sub-Sahara Africa, SWIFT said, “I am delighted that Diamond Trust Bank is live on gpi and will be able to extend the benefits to its customers. We are very proud of the value that gpi delivers to the financial industry by tackling the frictions, costs and delays associated with cross-border payments. We look forward to seeing other banks in East Africa follow suit.”

More than 3,500 banks, accounting for 85 pc of SWIFT’s total payments traffic, have committed to adopting gpi, evidencing how the service has achieved the near total transformation of the cross-border payments landscape just two years since launch. Following the SWIFT community’s recent endorsement of global gpi adoption, SWIFT gpi will be the standard for all cross-border payments by the end of 2020.