Citi launches multi-market instant payments on Swift scheme

Citi said on September 29 that its Citi Swift instant payments service had gone live across multiple markets, allowing participating bank clients to reach certain cross-border instant-payment routes through a single account structure. Citi said it was the first bank to go live with multiple markets on the Swift payments scheme and plans to add currencies and markets, though its announcement gave neither a timetable nor details of future additions.

The launch is delivered through Citi's WorldLink Payment Services and Global Clearing network, according to the bank. Citi says participating clients can use their existing Swift connection to access multiple domestic real-time payment networks, rather than establish separate local bank accounts, bilateral partner-bank arrangements or local technical connections.

Which payment routes are live in Citi's Swift instant-payments service?

Citi identified three routes connected to named domestic instant-payment systems: Australian dollars through Australia's New Payments Platform, sterling through the UK's Faster Payment System, and Indian rupees through India's Immediate Payment Service.

The US dollar component has a different structure. Citi said it had expanded its participation in the Swift payments scheme to the US, enabling participating banks to send dollar payments through Citi's internal network for real-time credit to Citi account holders in the US. Citi did not describe this element as access to a named domestic instant-payment rail.

The announcement applies to an unspecified group of Citi participating bank clients. Citi said the Swift payments scheme is available globally to 12,500 connected financial institutions, but that figure does not mean all such institutions receive Citi's capability.

How does the service change cross-border instant payments?

For a bank seeking to offer instant payments in several countries, the conventional arrangement could involve a local account in each market, agreements with partner banks and separate integrations with local clearing systems. Citi says its service is intended to let its participating clients use one existing Swift connection and account structure to access the listed networks.

Swift's Americas chief executive, Leigh Amaro, said greater collaboration among industry participants was needed to provide faster, more transparent and more predictable cross-border payments. Debopama Sen, Citi's head of payments for services, said the bank's work with Swift was intended to connect banks with instant-payment capabilities in multiple markets.

Citi positioned the launch within its broader WorldLink offering. The bank says that offering gives clients, through one relationship, direct connectivity to nine instant-payment schemes and near-real-time wires in 20 currencies and 54 markets. It also says WorldLink supports payments in 135 currencies, integrated foreign exchange across more than 4,500 currency pairs, and payments to wallets and cards.

Citi's announcement did not disclose fees, transaction limits, client names, adoption volumes or service-level terms for the new capability.

This story draws on original reporting from Finextra Research.