Standard Chartered processes real-time remittance to India in 37 seconds using Swift's new framework

Mumbai: Standard Chartered on Wednesday said it has processed the world's first transaction under Swift's new retail payments framework, completing an end-to-end cross-border remittance to India in just 37 seconds.

In the first live transaction under the framework, Australia's Westpac sent a remittance to India through Standard Chartered using Swift's enhanced retail payments rails.

"Our cross-border and network capabilities have been the cornerstones of the bank's sharp focus across key markets, including India," said P.D. Singh, CEO, India & South Asia, Standard Chartered. "We're enabling people around the world to send money to India just as easily as they can make a domestic transfer."


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The bank said the transaction demonstrates its ability to process end-to-end payments with any participating bank in India in near real time over the Swift network. Besides faster settlement, the new retail payments framework offers end-to-end payment tracking, upfront fee transparency and eliminates unexpected foreign exchange deductions, ensuring that the amount sent is the amount received by the beneficiary.

"This demonstrates the power of Swift's cutting-edge capabilities, leveraging its existing global rails to drive real transformation in cross-border payments," said Kiran Shetty, Chief Executive, Swift India and South Asia. "For India, the world's largest recipient of remittances, where these flows play a significant role in the economy, this evolution is particularly important."

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Shetty said the new framework brings cross-border payments closer to the simplicity and user experience of domestic UPI transactions by enabling greater speed, transparency and predictability.

"Standard Chartered's initiative is a strong proof point that this shift is not only possible but already underway in India, with the potential to redefine how remittances are experienced," Shetty added. "It is also encouraging to see the continued regulatory push in India supporting this direction, accelerating the move towards a faster, more transparent and customer-centric cross-border payments ecosystem anchored by Swift."