SWIFT, banks roll out framework for faster cross-border retail payments

New Delhi: Swift and global banks are launching a new system to make international payments faster and cheaper for small businesses and consumers, starting with major global markets.

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) is the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services.

Payments sent across popular corridors to Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Germany, India, Pakistan, Spain, Thailand, the UK and the US will come with certainty of cost, full-value delivery, end-to-end traceability, and the fastest speeds, including instant settlement where possible, as an initial group of more than 25 banks go live by the end of June.

More payment routes are expected to be active by the end of the year, scaling the benefits of fast, transparent account-to-account cross-border transactions to markets globally, Swift said in a statement.

Of the initial launch markets, Bangladesh, China, Germany, Pakistan and India are all in the top 10 countries for remittances received, it said.

Swift announced in September 2025 that it would develop the new network rules with a voluntary coalition of earlier adopter banks to further elevate the cross-border payments experience towards the G20’s goals for consumer payments.

While 75 per cent of payments over Swift reach destination banks within 10 minutes or less – ahead of the G20 target – more needs to be done in the front-end and final domestic leg to improve the end-to-end experience, the statement said.

Swift’s framework addresses those areas, providing retail customers with the ease, peace of mind and predictability they expect when sending money internationally, it added.