SWIFT is always at the forefront of payment innovation. So, in true SWIFT style, the organization has recently launched a new standard for low-value international payments, name SWIFT Go.
Momentum to use SWIFT Go is building up, and already 64 banks are testing to prepare to go live by the end of 2023. So far, over 250 banks have registered their interest in using SWIFT Go.
Eastnets is proud to announce that our company is one of the first four vendors ready to implement SWIFT Go. But what is SWIFT Go, and why is it so innovative?
Quick, easy, predictable
Quick, easy, and predictable are the three simple words to describe SWIFT Go. SWIFT Go is a response to the hurdles in streamlining eCommerce in terms of payment speed, cross-border payments, and processing fees. Customers and companies demand a better, faster, more cost-effective payment system. Small to medium-sized enterprises need quick payments to keep their business buoyant. As business costs soar during the current cost of living crisis, fast payments and low processing fees are even more critical. In evidence of this, a recent UK study by Good Business Pays and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) estimates revenue increases of up to £60 billion ($69 billion) per year if invoices are paid on the day submitted.
SWIFT Go is a new service that provides the backbone to allow small businesses and their customers to send “fast, predictable, highly secure, and competitively priced low-value cross-border payments anywhere in the world, direct from their bank accounts.”
Here are the main benefits of SWIFT Go.
Six benefits of SWIFT Go
SWIFT Go is designed with both consumers and small to medium-sized businesses in mind. To achieve this, the SWIFT Go service uses core pillars that provide the much-needed assurance, validation, and predictability needed to give small business peace of mind:
Faster payments
A business needs to receive funds quickly and efficiently. SWIFT Go uses the SWIFT gpi rails to deliver speedy cross-border payments. Payments no longer languish in the payments either; instead, people and businesses can send and receive cross-border funds within hours. Shoring up this process are several key elements:
- Enhanced service levels between banks
- A single payment format
- Pre-validation to remove delays caused by friction
With faster payments, businesses can be competitive, ensuring that their customers are never left waiting.
Competitive cost
Small to medium-sized businesses need competitively priced products to optimize their revenues. Because of the increased straight-through processing inherent in the design of SWIFT Go, processing fees are competitive.
Transparency
Hidden fees are a business red flag. If fees are unknown or subject to sudden change, this can cause cash flow issues for a business. With SWIFT Go, tight service levels establish up-front fees and ensure full transparency. As a result, there are no hidden fees, and fees are established at the start of the relationship.
Predictability
Having known quantities is essential for the cash flow of small to medium size businesses. SWIFT GO is designed to ensure that a company knows, upfront, the amount, time, fees, and FX rate of payment.
Payment tracking
Payment tracking gives the business and the customer peace of mind. SWIFT Go allows both the sender and receiver of payment to track the payment status in real time.
Security
SWIFT Go works with the SWIFT network, which includes Eastnets, to ensure that security is still robust even though payments are fast
Eastnets is SWIFT Go ready
Analysts predict there will be over $5 trillion in online sales by the end of 2022. Much of these sales are from small to medium-sized businesses that need fast, cost-effective, and reliable payments. To help these businesses take advantage of the benefits of SWIFT Go-enabled services, Eastnets will announce support for SWIFT Go. In addition, this announcement will give details of how Eastnets enables customers to quickly roll out SWIFT Go using an extension to Eastnets PaymentSafe, designed explicitly for SWIFT Go.
Eastnets PaymentSafe delivers secure messaging services for lower-volume users to ensure fast transmission of financial messages with low costs and complete transparency. PaymentSafe handles SWIFT Message creation, verification, authorization, and approval. Security is a fundamental part of faster payments, and Eastnets combines SWIFT messaging service handling with intelligent Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks.
Benefits include:
- No need for in-house experts: The new SWIFT Go service will be managed by SWIFT-certified engineers.
- Cost-effective: augments the cost-effectiveness of SWIFT Go by cutting the costs of access to the SWIFT system.
- Round-the-clock support: support to ensure exceptional service is always on hand.
- Additional security: Eastnets adds further security layers to ensure continued service.
To swiftly go to faster, more secure, payments
With over 250 banks already lined up to take SWIFT GO into live, it will quickly become a gold standard. Eastnets is proud to be one of the service pioneers that will ensure customers and businesses can benefit from a modern, secure, and streamlined payment system.
