Financial messaging service Swift has announced a partnership with money transfer platform Wise at the annual Sibos conference in Toronto.

The collaboration will allow payments initiated by banks via Swift to complete on the Wise platform through the new correspondent services offering.

Wise Platform will use services from Swift to power its services including cloud and API connectivity. Wise will also update Swift’s payment status tracker to ensure a complete view across both networks.

The companies claim that the partnership will result in lower costs and faster payments for both banks and their customers without needing to make any major changes to their systems. They added that they plan to collaborate on other projects in the future.

Commenting on the news Steve Naudé, managing director of Wise Platform, said: "We know that banks face a number of challenges when it comes to enhancing their international payments, including that this often requires them to embed technology which is incompatible with legacy infrastructure. By simultaneously leveraging existing payments architecture and optimising payouts using Wise's global network, we are empowering banks to innovate effortlessly.“

Thierry Chilosi, chief strategy officer at Swift, added: "Swift has built an infrastructure that connects the world, that is trusted and relied upon every day. Our collaboration with Wise illustrates how Swift can be the bedrock from which the whole industry can innovate to improve cross-border payments and enhance the options available for customers across the globe.”

Sibos is the global financial services networking event organised by Swift. The conference's keynote was presented by Brian Moynihan, chair of the board and chief executive officer of Bank of America, with the event's key theme orienting around 'collaborative finance in a fragmented world'.

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