S'pore banks join global pilot to boost cross-border payments

Singapore

SINGAPORE banks are among 45 global institutions testing out a Swift service that would improve price transparency in cross-border payments, as lenders band together to find ways to make correspondent banking more efficient and less costly, a senior executive from Swift said last Friday.

The pilot - known as the global payments innovation initiative - is meant to offer better tracking of payments for corresponding banks, fee transparency, as well as same-day use of funds. Banks that sign on to the programme effectively agree on business rules captured under multilateral agreements, creating standardisation. Other banks that have signed on include Citibank, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, and Bank of China.