SWIFT launched their latest service, the New Payments Platform (NPP) with the purpose being to revolutionise the banking industry for how domestic payments are made. 

The NPP will first be made publicly available in Australia, with plans underway for the service to make its way to Asia, Europe and Americas. 

SWIFT has helped to design, build and deliver the industry’s first NPP and will play a key role in operating the infrastructure for the NPP. 

The NPP’s financial architecture has been designed and constructed to improve how consumers, businesses and governments transact with one another. 

The key features of the NPP include 24/7 instant payments and real-time line-by-line settlement via the Reserve Bank of Australia 

Another feature of the NPP is the PayID, which is a new and easy way to link a financial account with an easy-to-remember identifier such as a mobile phone number, email address or ABN for businesses 

It also has open access infrastructure that truly empowers innovation through competition

In addition, NPP has overlay services framework that will provide new value services to Australian consumers, businesses and government 

Its chief executive of EMEA and APAC, Alain Raes, said the rollout of the NPP and the enablement of real time payments is the most significant development in the Australian payments industry in decades, and could have a more revolutionary impact on the economy than any previous payments system innovation. 

“SWIFT has supported the evolution of payments systems around the world for more than 40 years and is delighted to have played an important role in the creation and roll out of real-time payments in Australia. 

“The smooth delivery of the project is a measure of the great partnership that SWIFT and the Australian industry have developed throughout the collaboration,” said Raes. 

NPPA chief executive officer, Adrian Lovney said the NPP has also showcased the expertise and innovative approach of SWIFT’s global payments team and the value that we can deliver to other markets, including the European Union as it moves towards the goal of a harmonised instant payments service within the Eurozone.

“SWIFT, an international leader in the provision of secure financial services, has worked tirelessly to help design, build and deliver this world class system,” he added. 

NPP is a key component within SWIFT’s broader global instant payments strategy, which also includes the provision of an instant payments messaging service for the euro area. 

Launching in November, to coincide with the launch of TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS), the euro real-time payments service commissioned by the Eurosystem, SWIFT’s new messaging service will allow instant payments to be made in euros across Europe through both TIPS and EBA CLEARING’s RT-1 instant payments system. 

In the context of the Eurosystem’s 2020 vision, which envisages access to TARGET2, TARGET2 for Securities and TIPS through the Eurosystem Single Market Infrastructure Gateway (ESMIG), SWIFT’s instant payments strategy is committed to the future agenda of the Eurosystem, supporting customers as they move to meet this vision. 

The same SWIFT solution will provide customers with a single gateway to connect seamlessly to other instant payment systems in Europe and elsewhere. 

SWIFT, which currently connects 85 of the 149 High Value Payments systems in the world, including CHAPS in the UK, TARGET2 in Europe and the SWIFT India Domestic Services, also offers gateways to instant payments platforms in Hong Kong and in the US.

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