Deutsche Bank has rolled out Swift's new Beneficiary Account Validation (BAV) service, enabling clients to verify payee account details before an international payment instruction is sent.
The service enables Deutsche to ensure that payments from its clients are arriving at the intended beneficiary using the correct account details, by validating the information centrally via Swift. The bank can also use it to respond to incoming validation requests.
More than 70 banks have so far signed up to the BAV service but Deutsche Bank is the first to roll out the system on a global basis, building a straightforward API layer on top, enabling it to validate accounts across its global markets in real time.
The German lender also plans to incorporate BAV into its online cash management channel in the next year, where clients could pre-validate their beneficiary accounts while the payments are being created online.
Jose-M Buey, global head, core platforms and accounts solutions, Deutsche Bank Corporate Bank, says: "The BAV service not only addresses a key market problem prevalent today, but also brings significant operational benefits in terms of end-to-end efficiency and fraud reduction to our corporate clients.
"It is also a clear example of how API technology can be used to create an innovative solution that perfectly aligns with our strategy to build a real-time API based accounts platform."