What is SWIFT gpi and how does it affect me? What does it mean for my organization?

“By embracing SWIFT gpi – the new standard in global payments – financial institutions are now sending and receiving funds quickly and securely to anyone, anywhere in the world, with full transparency over where a payment is at any given moment. SWIFT gpi dramatically improves cross-border payments across the correspondent banking network, and not least for corporates for whom speed, certainty and a smooth international payments experience is an absolute must.” (from SWIFT website)

SWIFT has mandated that beginning November 22, 2020, every institution that receives a MT103 via FIN must send a confirmation to the Tracker within 2 business days of receiving the MT103 in order to stay gpi compliant.

These compliance measures will also be shared with the rest of the gpi community through something known as the gpi Observer. This will ensure that banks and corporations stay within the norms and maintain a good record in order to attract more customers for themselves and remain competitive in the market.

Wait, what’s going on, and what do I need to know?

As part of the November 2020 MT Standards release by SWIFT, it is mandated for all non-GPI users to provide Universal Confirmations to the Tracker for all MT103s received via FIN. This means if you are currently receiving MT103s as FIN messages via SWIFT, you will have to confirm the status of each transaction to the Tracker BIC. A Universal Confirmation is precisely that, a notification that is sent to the Tracker BIC via the SWIFT Network.

What’s the Basic Tracker?

The SWIFT Basic Tracker – ‘in the cloud’ and securely hosted at SWIFT – is a web-based interface which gives end-to-end visibility on the status of a payment transaction from the moment it is sent right up to when it is confirmed.

With access to the Basic Tracker, one can see exactly where a payment is being held and all the charges that go with it. A visual representation like none before, the Basic Tracker allows you to seamlessly receive and manage updates regarding every single transaction with the help of a Unique End-to-end Transaction Reference (commonly known as a UETR).

Okay, and what are Universal Confirmations again?

Universal confirmations are notifications sent to the Tracker BIC via the SWIFT Network. There are many ways in which a Universal Confirmation is sent based on your existing messaging capabilities and back-office application. Currently SWIFT supports MT199s, CSV, ISO, XML or APIs as means of providing the Confirmation to the Tracker.

Universal Confirmations are to be sent to the Tracker via SWIFT in order to stay complaint with SWIFT gpi rules and guidelines. According to SWIFT, “All financial institutions will be measured on whether or not they are confirming 80% of their weekly payments within two business days (including if they’re credited to the end beneficiary, rejected, placed on hold or transferred to an agent outside of SWIFT).”

Axletree can help you design the right solution for your organization and guide you through your gpi journey.

Tell me more.

Axletree provides its clients with quick access to the Basic Tracker, while creating personalized solutions that fit your specific needs based on your volume and back-office capabilities.

SWIFT will make it possible for counter-parties to see the level of adherence to the gpi Standards by June 2021. This gives banks and corporates with gpi capabilities an edge over ones that do not, thereby improving customer satisfaction and generating market competitiveness.

Call us or shoot us an email at Info@axletrees.com and we will be glad to set up a presentation to go through some of the finer details of gpi and how we can help you streamline your international payments processes, while also improving existing SLAs with respect to your peers.

For Corporates: