SWIFT said 22 global banks recently joined its blockchain proof of concept (PoC) initiative, which is part of its global payments innovation (gpi) service aimed to re-arm the correspondent banking system for a new age of technological disruption. SWIFT had announced the PoC initiative in January 2017 with six founding banks – ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, RBC Royal Bank and Wells Fargo. The pilot was designed to find out whether blockchain can be used by banks to improve the reconciliation of their international nostro accounts in real time. SWIFT gpi delivers an improvement in the speed of cross-border transaction, as well as boosts overall customer experience by giving predictable settlement times and clear statuses. Key features of the service include a secure tracking database in the cloud, accessible via APIs and enhanced business rules.
