Scotiabank continues their commitment to provide Canadian companies modern, digital payment solutions through investments that leverage SWIFT’s Global Payments Initiative (SWIFT gpi). Canadian companies can now gain visibility into their outbound and inbound wire payments through Scotiabank’s digital banking platforms for businesses.
Company treasurers can access real-time information, so they can accurately identify when inbound and outbound wire payments will arrive at their destination; improving visibility into their overall cash position. In addition to a digitized proof of payment status, clients can now see the status of incoming funds, allowing them to proactively make decisions and preparations that optimize when, where, and how to apply the cash when it arrives.
“This is an exciting evolution in wire payments for Canadian companies,” says Dougal Middleton, Vice President, Enterprise Payments, who points out that, in 2019 Scotiabank was the first Canadian bank to launch SWIFT gpi for business clients to track outgoing wire payments: “Our clients quickly embraced our outbound wire tracking feature, and we’ve been committed to supporting them with similar ability for their inbound wires. We’ve listened to their feedback and gathered valuable insights from their ongoing usage, and have delivered another convenient, digital self-service solution to eliminate the need for time consuming investigations with our support teams.”
Transparency is a necessary aspect for modernized payments, and SWIFT gpi is improving it with the 11,000+ banks representing the SWIFT community. With gpi, SWIFT has defined a new standard for cross-border and domestic payments by reducing processing time, eliminating friction points in the value chain, while providing new levels of transparency for end users. Scotiabank has invested across its global footprint to ensure regional processing centres provide confirmation of payment receipt back to the SWIFT network, improving overall payment status reporting and transparency.
Christopher Hill, SWIFT’s Head of Business Development in North America, echoes the value of this investment, stating, “The ability to anticipate payment arrival is a game changer for businesses – allowing them to cut costs, reduce friction and facilitate a streamlined experience for their customers when sending and receiving cross-border payments. Scotiabank customers can now benefit from a transformed international payments experience.”
“At the end of the day, we all have an expectation to be able to know exactly when that valuable courier package is arriving on our doorstep – businesses need the same level of predictability for their payments.” Concludes Middleton, “With our complete wire tracking services, companies can perform real-time tracking, optimize reconciliation, collection and liquidity forecasting, which are crucial to effective cash management.”
This is an exciting evolution in wire payments for Canadian companies...we have delivered another convenient, digital self-service solution.
