Swift has announced their collaboration with Wise to increase cross-border payment options for financial institutions and their customers.
Financial institutions will be able to route Swift payment messages directly to the Wise platform, through the fintech’s Correspondent Services Solution. This move will allow Swift customers to use Wise through Swift without making major system changes.
The Wise Platform will use Swift capabilities such as cloud and API connectivity and Payment Pre-validation, and will continue to offer banks all the hallmark features of Swift GPI, including a payment status tracker which Wise Platform will update to ensure end-to-end view across both networks.
The announcement was made at the Sibos conference in Toronto. Steve Naudé, managing director of Wise Platform, said: "We know that banks face a number of challenges when it comes to enhancing their international payments, including that this often requires them to embed technology which is incompatible with legacy infrastructure. By simultaneously leveraging existing payments architecture and optimising payouts using Wise's global network, we are empowering banks to innovate effortlessly. Our network, combined with Swift’s extensive reach and trackability, will make international payments more convenient, faster and lower cost for banks, without necessitating a major tech build.”
Thierry Chilosi, chief strategy officer at Swift, added: "Swift has built an infrastructure that connects the world, that is trusted and relied upon every day. Our collaboration with Wise illustrates how Swift can be the bedrock from which the whole industry can innovate to improve cross-border payments and enhance the options available for customers across the globe. Cooperation such as this will be vital in our collective efforts to achieve the G20 targets for cross-border payments and enable the seamless, efficient and secure movement of value around a fragmented world."
Wise CEO Kristo Käärman and Swift CEO Javier Pérez-Tasso will further discuss the collaboration during a discussion on Tuesday, 19 September at Sibos.