Standard Chartered went live with its SWIFT Global Payments Innovation (gpi) services to extend its offering to customers making cross-border payments in euro or other major currencies from its Germany booking centre.

This is in addition to gpi services that we went live in the United States and Singapore in 2017. With SWIFT gpi, customers stand to receive end-to-end confirmation and fee transparency of their payments over the entire transaction life cycle. This enables them to manage their working capital better and offers benefits such as faster, same day use of funds with increased visibility over transaction status and costs.

Francesco Miccoli, managing director & global head – correspondent banking sales and regional head – correspondent banking, Europe says, "Innovation, business sustainability and clients are at the heart of Standard Chartered's mission. SWIFT gpi matches Standard Chartered's aspirations to re-shape the cross-border payments industry and standards to effectively meet clients' need for efficiency and transparency in payments. We are now SWIFT gpi ready in Singapore, the US and Germany and will be looking to explore new correspondent banking frontiers for our clients."

Euro is the second most important currency for cross border payments for Standard Chartered and investment in gpi capabilities are in line with the bank's strategy in Germany as the European clearing hub.

"Standard Chartered is a founder member of SWIFT gpi and active collaborator in the SWIFT gpi Vision Vision group. The bank works closely with us to drive the commercialisation of SWIFT gpi in its Asian, African and Middle Eastern markets. The bank is also deeply engaged in the next development stages and market advocacy for SWIFT gpi including real-time gpi payments," says Wim Raymaekers, head of banking markets and SWIFT gpi.