SWIFT announced recently the further enhancement of its gpi service with the full go-live of SWIFT gpi for corporates, a capability that will allow multi-banked corporates to initiate and track payments across different banks directly from their treasury and payment systems.
More than 50 companies – including LVMH, Microsoft and Petronas have already signed up to the service, according to SWIFT.
The go-live follows a pilot with 22 corporates and banks—including Airbus, Booking.com, General Electric, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered Bank—that collaborated to scope the project, define the standard and business practices, and test the functionality within their treasury systems, the organization said.
While corporates are already able to check the status of gpi payments through each of their individual banking partners’ portals, SWIFT gpi for corporates affords them a single centralized and standardized view across all their banking partners, Marc Delbaere, Head of Corporates and Trade at SWIFT noted.
The service allows corporates to track all their payments in real-time, facilitating more accurate reconciliation, and preventing costly and time-consuming investigations, he added.
SWIFT said it also worked with software vendors such as Bellin, FIS, Kyriba and SAP which have integrated SWIFT gpi for corporates into their applications.
“An increasing number of banks are offering gpi tracking through their individual portals which works well for companies that only work with one bank, but not so much for a multinational business dealing with multiple banks. SWIFT gpi for corporates solves this by creating a centralised view of multi-bank information, enabling us to track our payments all in one place,” said Olivier Valanchauskas, Head of Airbus Treasury Platforms.
