Top 10 takeaways from SWIFT at SIBOS 2022

Coming back together in person for the first time in three years, the atmosphere at SIBOS 2022 was electric. Over 10,000 delegates attended the event, joining a wide range of SWIFT sessions spanning payments, securities, innovation, compliance, standards and much more.

1. CBDCs and tokenised assets: Interoperability is essential

Throughout SIBOS, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and tokenised assets were hot topics. Multiple Swift sessions focused on the results of our recent breakthrough experiments that showed how CBDCs and tokenised assets could be used internationally, and the role SWIFT can play to enable interoperability between distributed ledger and fiat networks.

What role digital currencies will play in the future is still yet to be seen, but as the various panels pointed out, banks need to start preparing now. And interoperability sits at the heart of this – linking up the new with the existing will be key to their growth going forward.

2. Low-value international payments are booming

Discussions around the rapid growth of international retail and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) payments generated many interesting discussions at SIBOS, with panels unpacking what banks need to do to take advantage of this booming market.

From more transaction transparency and predictability, to creating a sleeker user experience, discussions highlighted a number of steps banks can take to remain competitive in this crowded market, including adopting SWIF Go.

3. Friction removing services are available today

Sending money around the world should be simple. And with services like SWIFT gpi and others, SWIFT is making this a reality. Together with the financial community, it has developed new solutions ready to be used today that eliminate remaining sources of friction in the payments process.

Many of these were on display at SIBOS, including solutions like Payment Pre-validation, which spots payments errors before they occur, Case Management, which streamlines exceptions and investigations, and Payment Controls, for fast and efficient fraud detection. By adopting these services today, banks can deliver the experience that end-customers expect and stive for a frictionless financial future.

4. Transparency is key to removing settlement fails

Securities settlement fails create both added costs and operational risks for trading counterparties. And these challenges are only intensifying under Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR)’s Settlement Discipline Regime and the decision by certain markets to adopt T+1. Increased transparency on securities transactions is essential if the industry is to reduce settlement fails moving forward.

5. ISO 20022 will lead to significant benefits

High quality payments data is becoming a reality with ISO 20022. And many discussions at SIBOS focused on how financial institutions can reap the benefits of its rich, structured data.

6. Collaboration is needed to remove trade friction

Trade is an essential driver of global economic development, facilitating access to goods and services for corporates, SMEs and consumers all over the world. It accounts for more than half of cross-border payments, which is why removing friction is essential to ensuring supply chains are resilient and markets continue to grow.

7. Market infrastructure interlinking enables instant and frictionless payments

Market infrastructures have a key role to play in enabling instant and frictionless end-to-end payments between bank accounts in their own communities. But what do you get when you interlink them? A much wider reach and a better payments experience across borders.

8. The SWIFT platform is the foundation for future innovation

The SWIFT community is leveraging its enhanced platform to take the next steps towards instant and frictionless transactions. Moving from individual messaging to end-to-end transaction management, the SWIFT platform will bring together common data, services and standards.

At SIBOS, panellists explained the benefits of transaction management, including supporting the payment industry’s migration to ISO 20022, improving efficiency, reducing total costs, bringing new business value, and opening avenues for future innovation.

9. Accurate and transparent data is needed on ESG

Environmental, social, governance (ESG) topics were high on the agenda at SIBOS 2022. And more and more, ESG is top of mind for investors too. However, meeting investors’ needs for ESG information can be a challenge, because data often comes from multiple sources and today there is no global standard for ESG information.

10. Fighting financial crime means working together

Payments are rapidly moving to an instant and frictionless experience, but how can banks fight financial crime and make compliance processes fit for purpose in an instant and frictionless world? The answer lies in collaboration.