Societe Generale extends coverage of SWIFT GPI to nine new countries, enabling its corporate clients to track and manage cross-border payments more efficiently.

Societe Generale launched SWIFT gpi in nine new countries: Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Switzerland in Europe, as well as Hong Kong and Singapore in Asia.

SWIFT, which has already launched in France and Monaco, enables the bank to grant clients access to the best experience for tracking and managing their cross-border payments. Benefits of SWIFT gpi include increased processing speed of global payments, fee transparency, real-time payment tracking, and end-to-end payment information transfer.

Societe Generale joined the SWIFT gpi initiative in 2017. The solution covers payments issued and received by Societe Generale in those 11 countries, denominated in euro or other global currencies. Corporate treasurers will soon have access to the gpi tracker through the SG Markets* platform or via host-to-host reporting solutions.

This new step in SWIFT gpi’s roll-out reflects the Group’s ambition to maintain its leading position in transaction banking in France and strengthen its footprint in Western Europe, in line with its 2020 strategic objectives.

Benoit Desserre, Deputy Head of Global Transaction Banking & Payment Services for Societe Generale, says: “Today, more than a third of SWIFT gpi payments issued by Societe Generale are confirmed by the beneficiary bank in less than 5 minutes. This performance alone demonstrates the efficiency of our collaboration with SWIFT and the added value that gpi holds for our clients.”

Alain Raes, Chief Executive EMEA and Asia Pacific, SWIFT said: “We are delighted that Societe Generale is playing a leading role in extending the reach of SWIFT gpi. As one of the first banks in France to go live on the service, and the first worldwide to go live on SWIFT gpi for Corporates after the pilot phase, Societe Generale is transforming the cross-border payments experience for its customers. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Societe Generale as SWIFT gpi moves towards global adoption.”

SWIFT gpi (global payment innovation) is an initiative launched in 2016 by SWIFT, a global, member-owned cooperative aiming to create new standards for global payments. Four principles are at the root of the initiative:

  • faster payments processing;
  • real-time end-to-end tracking for each payment;
  • fee and exchange rate transparency;
  • non-altered transmission of payment reason provided by clients.

Every day, the equivalent of 300 billion dollars are exchanged through SWIFT gpi. 450 banks worldwide have signed the adoption agreement of SWIFT gpi with 125, including Societe Generale, are live for a least one country and one currency.