Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has partnered with SWIFT to streamline cross-border payments by providing real-time payments tracking and transparency on transaction fees and foreign exchange rates.
DTB, which operates in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda, will be the first East African bank to go live on SWIFT’s global payments innovation (SWIFT gpi) service.
Through the service, clients will be able to track the status of their payments from end to end, including information about each participant in the payment chain and any fees that have been deducted.
Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) has partnered with SWIFT to streamline cross-border payments by providing real-time payments tracking and transparency on transaction fees and foreign exchange rates.
DTB, which operates in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda, will be the first East African bank to go live on SWIFT’s global payments innovation (SWIFT gpi) service.
Through the service, clients will be able to track the status of their payments from end to end, including information about each participant in the payment chain and any fees that have been deducted.
SWIFT gpi is already carrying over $300 billion a day in 148 currencies across more than 1,100 country corridors. More than $40 trilion was transferred over the service in 2018.
Around 40 per cent of SWIFT gpi payments are credited to end-beneficiaries within five minutes. Half are credited within 30 minutes; three quarters within six hours; and almost 100 per cent within 24 hours.
“Reducing friction in cross-border payments is a priority for us and our clients. As the first East African bank to go live on gpi, we are now offering our corporate customers faster, more transparent and traceable cross-border payments. SWIFT gpi addresses some of the biggest challenges around cross-border payments and makes the process simpler for all parties,” said Suraj Shah, Head Of Centralised Operations, Diamond Trust Bank.
“I am delighted that Diamond Trust Bank is live on gpi and will be able to extend the benefits to its customers. We are very proud of the value that gpi delivers to the financial industry by tackling the frictions, costs and delays associated with cross-border payments. We look forward to seeing other banks in East Africa follow suit,” said Denis Kruger, SWIFT head of sub-Saharan Africa.
The partnership comes at a time when more and more players in Kenya are seeking to attract businesses and individual traders who require instant cross-border payments services.
In November, a partnership between Family Bank Limited and London-based financial technology firm SimbaPay made it possible for the 23,946,174 active M-Pesa users in Kenya to send money to over 1 billion active WeChat subscribers in China.
In April last year, a deal between Safaricom, PayPal and TransferTo made it possible to move money between M-Pesa and 210 million active PayPal accounts globally in up to 25 international currencies.
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