The SWIFT Community is to universally adopt the gpi service, in a move which will see all 10,000 banks
on SWIFT’s global network use the global payments innovation service (gpi) for cross border payments.
SWIFT extends gpi to all banks for cross border payments
The decision to move to universal gpi adoption has been taken against the backdrop of the rapid success
and unexpectedly fast adoption rate of gpi to date. The service has already been taken up and is being
promoted by 49 of the world’s top 50 banks.
With the full support of the SWIFT board, representing the entire SWIFT community, this decision will drive global take-up of gpi, so that by the end of 2020 every bank on the network is able to offer same day end-to-end delivery with full tracking and transparency, throughout the payment chain.
“The gpi service has been designed, developed and deployed in record time, and is already radically transforming the cross-border payments experience,” explains Yawar Shah, Chairman of SWIFT.
“Unmatched in scale, no other service has been able to safely deliver hundreds of billions of dollars in payments around the world in minutes or seconds. The time is now right to accelerate the adoption of gpi, ensuring that all
banks on the network adopt it. The Board has therefore endorsed the network-wide implementation of
gpi.”
To assist the smaller or more occasional users, which collectively account for a very small percentage of
cross border payments, SWIFT will introduce and support these users in implementing a basic gpi service,
enabling all payments to and from these banks to receive full gpi treatment throughout the payment chain.
Launched in early 2017, gpi already accounts for 25% of SWIFT cross-border payment traffic. More than
$100 billion in SWIFT gpi messages is sent every day, enabling payments to be credited to end
beneficiaries within minutes – many within seconds.
Since going live, SWIFT gpi has seen rapid adoption with more than 180 banks already signed up to the
gpi service. The rapid and widespread adoption of SWIFT gpi has been driven by end-customer demand
for a faster, more transparent cross-border payments service, improved remittance information and
predictability.
Nearly 50% of gpi payments are completed and credited to end beneficiaries’ accounts in less than 30
minutes, enabling banks to deliver a much enhanced service to their customers. To date, 35 million gpi
payments have been processed, and hundreds of thousands of payments are being sent daily across
450 country corridors, in more than 100 currencies. In major corridors, such as USA-China, gpi already
accounts for nearly 50% of payment traffic.
