SWIFT Go Launches Low-Cost Network With 7 Major Banks

Seven major global banks are live on SWIFT Go, a new service by the global interbank messaging system aiming to offer low-cost, cross-border payments, in a possible threat to the real-time payments network offered by Ripple.

• BBVA, BNY Mellon, DNB, MYBank, Sberbank, Societe Generale and UniCredit are the seven banks using SWIFT Go, an announcement Tuesday said.
• The service is designed to enable businesses and consumers to send payments quickly and securely anywhere in the world directly from their bank accounts.
• Global messaging network SWIFT connects banks and other financial institutions for cross-border payments and links more than 11,000 institutions. In June alone it transmitted more than 350 million messages containing financial information.
• SWIFT Go may be seen as an attempt to compete with the global real-time payments system provided by Ripple.
• The introduction follows barely a month after SWIFT announced a new platform to start in November next year designed to extend its existing capabilities with greater efficiency and lower costs. Six major banks gave it their endorsement, including Citi, Deutsche Bank and Bank of China.