SWIFT Is Bringing Instant Payments To The US

U.S. institutions will soon be seeing their real-time payments options expanding with the announcement that SWIFT will provide a gateway to The Clearing House’s real-time payments (RTP) platform. Said gateway will allow SWIFT to provide an interface to manage the requirements of sending and receiving domestic instant payment transactions on behalf of customers in an environment where the need for speed is becoming increasingly keenly felt.

The Clearing House’s new clearing and settlement system is designed to allow U.S.-based consumers and businesses to send and receive payments in real time and directly from bank accounts. Those messages — other than payments — will also carry data and non-payment messages that financial institutions can use to build digital commerce solutions.

SWIFT’s solution for the U.S. market allows banks all of this access through a single touch point — Alliance Messaging Hub (AMH) for both SWIFT high-value payments and low-value TCH real-time payments.

AMH is an orchestration layer that includes a gateway to the TCH RTP network, as well as other gateways and APIs, which allows financial institutions to connect to other non-SWIFT networks.

“SWIFT is working together with communities worldwide to support the global shift towards real-time payments, and we are pleased to be at the forefront as the U.S. market evolves,” said Ignacio Blanco, Director, Strategic Relationships at SWIFT. “The Clearing House is making great strides in accelerating the speed of transactions, and we are committed to playing our part in helping the financial community to operate as efficiently as possible.”

Steve Ledford, SVP Product and Strategy at The Clearing House, added: “Given its reach and expertise in payments, SWIFT is a great collaborator as we bring a wide-scale real-time payments system to the U.S. market. Achieving our vision of broad adoption of real-time payments will only be possible when the majority of U.S. institutions are able to participate, and SWIFT will be instrumental in helping us meet this goal.”

This solution will be available in 2018 for commercial use.