HSBC Egypt has joined SWIFT global payments innovation service (gpi), enabling greater digital tracking, speed, and certainty of cross-border payments to and from Egypt, the bank announced on Tuesday.
SWIFT gpi technology enables financial institutions to provide greater transparency and end-to-end tracking of a transaction, with all involved parties receiving real-time confirmation when a payment is credited.
“Clients will now be able to issue, manage, and track their transfers until they are credited in the beneficiary account, through one platform and in real-time,” Ahmed Badawi, country head, Global Liquidity and Cash Management at HSBC Egypt, said.
“Enquiries on beneficiary payments used to take up to three days, SWIFT gpi reduces this to only a few minutes with payment status visible to clients on HSBCnet,” he added.
Egypt is the second HSBC site in the Middle East to adopt SWIFT gpi, following the UAE which began using the service in April 2018.
Globally, HSBC has enabled SWIFT gpi across 45 countries with more than 90% of HSBC’s payments using the technology, empowering clients to see end-to-end payment status via HSBCnet Track Payments.
Moreover, Richard Lelong, country head, Commercial Banking HSBC Egypt, said, “The Egyptian government and the Central Bank of Egypt recognise the value in transitioning to a more digitally-based payments ecosystem. HSBC is delighted to be able to support this initiative by setting a new digital standard in cross-border payments.”
More than 160 financial institutions around the world use SWIFT gpi, with more than $100bn in SWIFT gpi messages sent daily across 350 international payment corridors.
According to Noor Adhami, regional head of Global Liquidity & Cash Management at HSBC MENAT, the bank’s introduction of SWIFT gpi to Egypt would make cross-border payments simpler, faster, and safer for the bank’s customers.