SWIFT to Allow GPI Payments on Blockchain Platforms

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) will allow distributed ledger technology (DLT) firms to use its global payments innovation (GPI) platform, according to a recently published report.

In the report, SWIFT revealed that it will soon allow GPI payments on DLT-base platforms. The product will purportedly increase savings in reconciliations and boost the movement of collateral.

The announcement follows a proof-of-concept (PoC) of a new gateway to interlink trade and e-commerce platforms with GPI, which the organization launched in collaboration with enterprise blockchain platform R3 in January. The product is designed to connect various trade platforms to GPI members, allowing end-to-end payment tracking, payment authentication, and credit confirmation. CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt said at the time:

“Our new GPI platform is extremely interoperable and open, and we’ve always had links to other networks [...] we are announcing later today a Proof-of-Concept with R3 blockchain on trade, where you can initiate a payment on the trade platform, and then it goes into GPI. So we’re exploring interconnectivity with a lot of things.”

Previously, SWIFT carried out a blockchain-based shareholder e-voting PoC with major financial institutions, including Deutsche Bank, DBS, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, securities software provider SLI and the Singapore Exchange.  The test aimed to establish whether DLT can simplify the management of shareholder meetings.

Additionally, the existing SWIFT network and infrastructure was used to access, test and validate the applicability of the technology.