UniCredit is now the first and only bank across its core markets to offer Swift GPI on international payments across each of its client segments - from retail clients up to SMEs and multinational corporates - following its recent roll-out of the free service in Austria, Italy and Germany.
Swift GPI enables banks to offer a faster, transparent, and traceable cross-border payments service, with end-to-end visibility on transactions and accurate and real-time payment information.
At UniCredit, retail clients now receive updates on the status of their international payments via a simple push notification - the latest example of the bank improving digital channels and building its business around clients.
In the payments sphere, UniCredit's ambition is to be every European client's first choice.
This means operating at the vanguard of industry trends, particularly in terms of how the bank looks at the client experience - allowing it to capture more payments in the process.
Raphael Barisaac, UniCredit's Global Head of Payments & Cash Management, said: "We are keeping our clients at the centre of everything we do. This means being able to adapt and evolve rapidly alongside their needs - as evidenced here via the expansion of Swift GPI for our retail customers."
Marianne Demarchi, Chief Executive EMEA, Swift, added: "As part of our strategy for instant and frictionless transactions, we're working with our community to ensure both individuals, and businesses of all sizes, can benefit directly from our range of solutions, improving their overall experience when sending and receiving an international payment. We're delighted to be working with UniCredit to bring fast, secure and completely transparent cross-border payments to more people through Swift GPI."
The carving out of UniCredit's Group Payments Solutions vertical last year is enabling the bank to focus and invest at scale as it expands its range of value-added services for clients of all sizes.
These decisive actions have had a material impact on the quality of UniCredit's revenues, with 87% of the bank's FY23 payments revenues being fee-driven.
UniCredit's expansion of Swift GPI to retail clients also marks the latest milestone in a journey of innovation in international payments and service excellence.
As of today, the bank can deliver fully automated end to end FX conversion in more than 100 currencies - executing cross-border payments at pre-agreed wholesale spreads.
At the same time, UniCredit is also one of the early adopters of Swift's Payment Pre-validation solution, which provides an upfront check of recipient data to remove errors before a payment is sent.