Global payments message service SWIFT expands tracker facility

Secure financial messaging services provider SWIFT said today that it has expanded the GPI Tracker system to help banks track their global transactions at all times, keeping full vigil on the payments activity.

Extension of its GPI Tracker will cover all payment instructions sent across the network, SWIFT said in a statement.

The over Rs 13,000 crore fraud which has been unearthed at Punjab National Bank (PNB) was a case of misuse of non-linkage of bank's core-banking system (CBS) with SWIFT messaging system as a few PNB officials, in connivance with diamond jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali Gems, bypassed the reporting of global transactions to bank's CBS.

SWIFT said GPI accounts for 10 per cent of cross border payment traffic and is enabling more than a hundred billion dollars to be transferred across the world rapidly and securely every day.

The introduction of the unique end-to-end transaction reference in all payment instructions will be effected through the mandatory annual standards update in November 2018.

SWIFT GPI improves customer experience by increasing speed, transparency and automatically provides status updates to all GPI banks involved in any GPI payment chain, it said.

Besides, it allows banks to confirm when a payment has been completed, it added.

It also said that SWIFT GPI facilitates more accurate reconciliation of payments and invoices, optimises liquidity with improved cash forecasts and reduces exposure to FX risk, with same-day processing of funds in beneficiaries' time zones.

"SWIFT GPI has been hugely beneficial for banks and their customers since its launch but extending this tracking facility across all payments traffic will be truly transformational, said Kiran Shetty, CEO & Regional Head - India & Sub-Continent, SWIFT.

The Tracker has been available since May 2017, enabling banks to track their GPI payments in real-time.

From November a unique end-to-end transaction reference will be included in all payment instructions carried between all 11,000 customers on SWIFT at all times, across more than 200 countries and territories.

"The extension of the Tracker to non-GPI payments is a major step forward. It will significantly extend transparency and it will drive more banks to join the service, rapidly making GPI the new normal in cross-border payments," said Navinder Duggal, Group Head of Cash Product Management from DBS, one of the early GPI adopters in Asia.

Enabling end-to-end tracking of all payment instructions through to the end destination is a game-changer, said Lars Sjgren, Global Head of Transaction Banking, Danske Bank.

Until last year, it was impossible for banks to gather this information on behalf of their customers, but the introduction of the GPI Tracker has addressed this challenge head on, transforming cross-border payments and dramatically improving the service that banks can offer to their customers in a very cost efficient way, Sjgren said.