SWIFT gpi - the road to transparency

SWIFT gpi: the road to transparency Citi believes that SWIFT gpi will have a far-reaching impact on the global payments landscape. CASE STUDY I Citi “We are committed to delivering next-generation experiences to our clients and working actively to integrate this information into TTS strategic Channels. This will allow clients to track their payments – just like we can track packages in our daily lives.” Preeti Chaturvedi Director TTS-Global Payments and Receivables Product, Citi Cross-border payment challenges The end to end client experience of cross border payments presents considerable challenges due to the number of banks involved in any given transaction. One of the most notable issues is the lack of visibility on the status of individual payments across the banking chain. “When everything goes smoothly and the beneficiary receives the payment as expected, there is no problem,” explains Preeti Chaturvedi, Director TTS-Global Payments and Receivables Product, Citi. “But exceptions are expensive and manually intensive, often involving multiple correspondent banking relationships. Historically, clients have not been able to get proactive visibility into their payment’s status along the banking chain and are dependent on customer service representatives to determine where their transaction is held up.” For corporates, delays in settlement can adversely affect the efficiency of companies’ cash management processes. Reputational risks can also arise if a vendor doesn’t receive money on time, or if a key Merger and Acquisitions (M&A) transaction is delayed. Additionally, there can be significant reconciliation challenges. In some cases, clients may proactively ask the bank to monitor whether urgent payments are completed on time. While Citi’s service teams are well equipped with the necessary tools, this can be a manually intensive process. SWIFT gpi In order to overcome these issues, Citi has been proactive in adopting SWIFT gpi, a new service which aims to transform cross-border payments by increasing the speed, transparency and end-to-end tracking of payments. SWIFT gpi, which has been developed in conjunction with a number of global banks, is already being used to send thousands of cross-border payments around the world. The benefits of the service include: -- Same day use of funds -- Transparency of fees -- End-to-end payments tracking -- Remittance information transferred unaltered Citi was one of the first banks to be live with gpi, going live in the United States and the United Kingdom with multiple currencies, including USD, EUR and GBP. Clients have much to gain by being able to pinpoint the whereabouts of payments throughout the payment chain. “We are committed to delivering next-generation experiences to our clients and working actively to integrate this information into TTS strategic Channels. This will allow clients to track their payments – just like we can track packages in our daily lives,” Chaturvedi explains. “The lack of an automated feedback loop to the ordering customer on charges applied along the banking chain is an industry issue, and has been a pain- point for our corporates for many years,” comments Chaturvedi. “Clients are also getting very excited about the ability to receive confirmation on the exact amount the beneficiary will receive.”

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