Operating over a two-year timeframe, the new strategy is aimed at enabling financial institutions to deliver instant and frictionless end-to-end transactions.

The co-operative is building a new digital platform that will use APIs and cloud technology to provide a set of common processing services that banks have historically invested in individually. New and extensive data capabilities will enable the pre-validation of essential data, fraud detection, data analytics, transaction tracking and exception case management.

In payments, this equates to value added services that banks can provide to both businesses and consumers. In securities, financial institutions will benefit from improved reconciliation, reporting and asset servicing processes as well as end-to-end visibility of transactions to reduce settlement fails and fines.

Javier Pérez-Tasso, CEO of Swift, says: “We are innovating the underlying infrastructure that financial institutions use to make transactions run even faster end-to-end, and at the same time further reducing costs for the community through industry-shared services in the areas of cyber, fraud and compliance. We are creating a broad platform with faster technology and smarter and better services that the industry can trust as a foundation for innovation towards their own end-clients.”

The fresh approach has received support from Swift's biggest member banks.

Manish Kohli, global head of payments and receivables, Citi, comments: "With its new platform strategy, Swift is evolving from just making incremental improvements to its traditional store and forward messaging capabilities and towards truly transformative change based on API dynamic connectivity, a vastly improved data model and extremely relevant ‘payment orchestration’ services. This reimagined Swift platform builds on the progress of gpi, and moves us towards our desired end-state of payment ubiquity with the ability to make frictionless and instant cross border payments across the Swift network.”

Stefan Hoops, managing director, head of corporate bank, Deutsche Bank, adds: “It’s good news that Swift is evolving from being a messaging carrier to a provider which supports our own Deutsche Bank transaction platform for international payments. Speedy, secure and compliant transaction management fits perfectly with our clients’ workflows and needs. We plan to connect Swift’s cooperative industry-wide solution with our own products and client services that manage payments for all types of financial institutions, corporates and fintechs.”