In an average payments operations department, two to five percent of all payments, made on any particular day, resulting in an inquiry with value going up to billions of USD.
To improve the competitive position of their cash management offerings, financial institutions are putting increasing pressure on their payments operations. While many processing units achieve impressive straight-through processing (STP) rates, it has become clear that the cost of handling each inquiry resulting from payment is multiplied in the total payment cost.
Managing exceptions and investigations remains one of the most labor-intensive activities for a financial institution, largely because it blocks increased automation. The reason for this is the widespread use of free-format messages combined with a lack of industry rules. And as these are mostly manual processes, in a best-case scenario, exceptions can consume a minimum of 6 working days to resolve.
To address this break in the payments flow, Swift has now confirmed the launch of ‘case resolution service‘, powered by SWIFT gpi, removes the strain involved in resolving exceptions and investigations.
The ‘in-flight’ cloud-based service allows for dynamic query handling between banks on the SWIFT network, enabling them to quickly resolve instances in which information is incorrect or missing in payment instructions.
What are the benefits of gpi case resolution?
- Improved transparency: Via the gpi Tracker, financial institutions can follow payment investigation requests anywhere in the cloud and record-related interbank communications in an audit trail
- Shorter resolution time: Financial institutions can smartly route inquiry requests using the Tracker and ensure timely follow up backed by SLAs and a rulebook.
- Reduced manual intervention: Using structured codes in the inquiry exchanges standardizes communications. It reduces duplicate inquiries on the same payment and facilitates inquiries’ process automation by case software solutions.
How does gpi case resolution work?
Payment investigation requests are routed via the Tracker directly to the financial institution closest to the ordering customer, who will provide a response within a predefined timeframe.
Case resolution requests and interactions with the Tracker are done via API, MT n99 or GUI.
Requests and responses make use of standardized ISO 20022-based codes to allow automated routing and drive process automation.
To get started, banks can either contact your SWIFT relationship manager, or you can place an e-order through your mySWIFT profile on swift.com.
At present, case resolution is a service exclusively for SWIFT gpi members. However, we intend to bring the benefits of smooth and frictionless case resolution to our entire community.
This new service will extend the benefits of centralized case management to all SWIFT financial institutions, meaning the end of bank-to-bank sequential information exchange.
