SWIFT goes live with improved payment verification service

July 8, 2021 in Business, Finance, Financial Services by Editor

SWIFT developed the Payment Pre-validation service in close cooperation with financial institutions.

SWIFT today announced the go-live of a service that will enable banks to verify payee account details before an international payment is sent, removing a key point of friction in cross-border transactions. The new Payment Pre-validation service is a core building block in SWIFT’s strategy to drive instant and frictionless transactions worldwide.

“SWIFT’s strategy to enable fast and frictionless payments takes a major step forward with the launch of this service. Payment Pre-validation will bring end-to-end efficiency, enabling our customers to provide better, faster and new services to their own end clients,” Stephen Gilderdale, Chief Product Officer, SWIFT said.

SWIFT is a global member owned cooperative and the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services.

Most cross-border payments are processed without issue, but one of the leading causes for those that fail or lose time is incorrect beneficiary information – from misspelled names to transposed account numbers.

Officials say because they are detected late in the process, these issues can be among the most time-consuming and costly to resolve. SWIFT’s Payment Pre-validation service tackles this problem by allowing a sending bank to confirm account details, via an API, with the receiving bank from the very beginning of the process so that any data or account problems are identified right up front.

This check is similar to what already occurs in some domestic markets except the SWIFT service will go much further — solving the issue for up to 11,000 institutions and four billion accounts in 200 countries.

Thomas Halpin, the Global Head of Payments Product Management, HSBC, said: “Pre-validation is an important step in helping corporates to make simpler, faster and more secure cross-border payments. This feature will ensure customers can send payments in confidence, and the increased security brings benefits not just for customers but for the entire payments community.”

SWIFT developed the Payment Pre-validation service in close cooperation with financial institutions, and a number of major global banks have already signaled their commitment to the service.

 

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