"Hoping to hold off an intrusion by mobile phone providers and non-bank competitors, banking co-op SWIFT has developed a new service to streamline bank-to-bank remittance payments



Scheduled to be showcased at this week’s SIBOS conference in Hong Kong, the workers remittance framework includes contract templates, a market practice for service levels and product definitions, reference data services, ISO 20022 standards and a messaging service. The contract templates, reference data and XML standards allow banks to use any payment product. And the service is “commercial neutral,” so banks have flexibility in branding, pricing and foreign exchange for payments.



SWIFT says the product has been piloted, with participating institutions enjoying an 80 percent decrease in remittance costs. The cooperative says traditional correspondent banking remittance arrangements have not enabled price benefits, time transparency or ease of use, leaving banks vulnerable in the remittance game."



Continue Reading at BTN