StoneX integrates Swift’s payment pre-validation service

By Delisha Fernandes

StoneX, a global financial services network, has announced that it is one of the first financial organisations to enable Swift’s new solution for cross-border payments.

Mireia Guisado Parra, Product Owner of the Payment Pre-validation service at Swift, said, “Payment Pre-validation utilizes pseudonymized and aggregated data from billions of historic transactions on the Swift network to provide enhanced security and speed in cross-border payments. We are pleased that StoneX are extending these benefits to more financial institutions, thereby reducing friction in the payments ecosystem.”

Cross-border payments have long been a complex area marked by ongoing regulatory and compliance changes, bank offline hours, and increasing competition. Swift has consistently played a pivotal role in facilitating such transactions, connecting a vast network of financial institutions as well as banks worldwide.

To counter these challenges, Swift introduced its Payment Pre-validation service, which allows for the verification of beneficiary account details before initiating international payments. While such verification has long been commonplace for domestic payments in several countries, it was not so for cross-border transactions as they are more complex and often involve one or more intermediary banks.

Swift’s Payment Pre-validation service introduces many significant enhancements to cross-border payments, including:

• Real-time validation of beneficiary account details: This feature enables banks to verify beneficiary account information, such as account numbers and BIC, in real time, preventing transaction failures caused by inaccurate information
• Standardized error codes: Pre-defined error codes expedite the identification of problematic or risk-prone transactions before payment initiation
• Verification of recipient bank’s Swift BIC: Ensuring the accuracy of the receiving bank’s BIC reduces transaction delays and misdirection
• Improved data quality: Structured and standardized payment data enhances data quality and facilitates transaction processing.

Clients of StoneX’s payments business, StoneX Payments, will benefit from the adoption of pre-payment validation technology. StoneX Payments facilitates foreign exchange payment transactions in more than 140 currencies and spanning over 180 countries. A distinctive feature of StoneX Payments is its extensive network of over 350 correspondent banking relationships worldwide, each maintained independently.