The International Payments Framework (IPF), an industry group aiming to simplify cross-border payments, is set to go live with the first stage of its payments plan in January 2010.
Once live, the framework will connect the payment processes of Federal Reserve Banks in the US and IPF member banks in Europe through the use of a transfer protocol based on the ISO20022 standard.
The resulting link between domestic and international ACH systems will make it possible to send pounds sterling to GBP accounts and USD dollars to USD or euro accounts help in Europe.
The IPF also plans to finalise and publish its rulebook and the technical specifications in November. The announcement was made at Sibos, the annual user conference of banking co-operative Swift, during a panel debate featuring members from Wells Fargo, ABN Amro, Standard Bank and Equens, the pan-European payment processor.
During the debate Manfred Schuck, executive advisor at Equens, sought to clarify the role and ambitions of the IPF initiative. "The IPF is about efficiency and not pricing. It will create cost savings for the banks but whether those cost savings are passed on by the banks is up to the banks."
He also noted that the IPF is a separate initiative from Sepa, the single platform for Euro payments that has been mandated by the European Commission. "The IPF is a global initiative whereas a Sepa payment relates only to the Euroland. The IPF is also a voluntary project."
Following the launch of US and European cross-border payments, the next target for the IPF is to add Canada and Mexico, followed by South America, Asia and parts of Africa.