SWIFT today announces the launch of an instant payments messaging solution for the European market. It will allow instant payments to be made over the SWIFT network, and provide customers with a single gateway to connect seamlessly to multiple instant payments systems. The instant payments solution will be available by November 2018. Once delivered for Europe, the same solution could support instant payments initiatives elsewhere.

This solution is the latest development in SWIFT's global instant payments strategy, and builds on SWIFT’s earlier success in Australia. In 2015, SWIFT was awarded the contract to deliver the messaging infrastructure to underpin Australia’s new payments platform, AU NPP, which is expected to go live later this year.

Christian Sarafidis, Chief Marketing Officer, SWIFT, commented: “Our instant payments strategy has delivered early successes in Australia and I am confident it will bring significant benefit to our customers globally. Initially, the instant payments gateway will provide access to multiple instant payments operators across Europe, and then the plan is to further expand into other markets.”

The instant payments gateway can be used stand-alone, but it can also be integrated with SWIFT’s Alliance Messaging Hub (AMH), which enables the processing of financial message flows and integration with back office systems. It will be fully compliant with industry standards and specifications. 

“Our instant payments gateway is designed to meet the challenges our customers face and forms the cornerstone of our future footprint, in particular enabling access to the forthcoming combined T2/TIPS/T2S platform ,” concludes Sarafidis.