Swift Launches Framework to Speed Up Global Retail Payments

2026-03-05 - 09:53

Consumers and small businesses in multiple countries, including five of the world’s largest remittance markets, will be among the first to benefit from a new Swift framework aimed at improving cross-border retail payments. Payments to Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Germany, India, Pakistan, Spain, Thailand, the UK and the US will offer cost certainty, full-value delivery, end-to-end traceability, and faster settlement, including instant transfers where possible. An initial group of more than 25 banks is expected to go live by the end of June, with additional routes becoming available later in the year. Bangladesh, China, Germany, Pakistan and India are among the top ten countries for remittance inflows. Swift announced in September 2025 that it would develop the new network rules with a voluntary group of early-adopter banks to advance the G20’s objectives for consumer payments. While Swift already delivers 75% of payments to destination banks within 10 minutes or less, the industry must improve the front-end and domestic processes to enhance the end-to-end experience. Nasir Ahmed, Head of Payments Scheme at Swift, said: Nasir Ahmed “The financial community has made strong collective progress to improve the speed and transparency of cross-border payments, but there is room to go further. Everyone should be able to transact internationally at pace, safe in the knowledge that the full value will arrive with the recipient and that the fees will be affordable and fixed from the start.” The framework forms one part of Swift’s strategy to facilitate fast and seamless cross-border transactions. In parallel, Swift is introducing a blockchain-based shared ledger to enable 24/7 real-time cross-border payments, supporting the movement of regulated tokenised value across its network of 11,500 banks and financial institutions in more than 200 countries and territories. More than 50 banks from around the world are supporting the framework, including: The global financial community has continued to show support for Swift’s framework. Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by motionfox via Freepik