Interbank messaging service SWIFT has said that it will give US banks a gateway to connect to The Clearing House’s (TCH) new real-time payments (RTP) platform.
TCH, a national payments system operator for the US banking industry, is building a new clearing and settlement system to support domestic instant payments in the US, enabling consumers and businesses to send and receive payments in real-time and directly from their accounts at financial institutions.
The gateway, according to SWIFT, will provide an interface to manage the requirements of sending and receiving domestic instant payment transactions on behalf of customers.
SWIFT added that its solution for the US market will provide banks with the opportunity to leverage a single platform, Alliance Messaging Hub (AMH) for both SWIFT high-value payments and low-value TCH real-time payments.
AMH is an orchestration layer that includes a gateway to the TCH RTP network, as well as other gateways and API’s which allow financial institutions to connect to other non-SWIFT networks. The solution will be commercially available by early 2018.
SWIFT director for strategic relationships Ignacio Blanco said: “SWIFT is working together with communities worldwide to support the global shift towards real-time payments, and we are pleased to be at the forefront as the U.S. market evolves.
“The Clearing House is making great strides in accelerating the speed of transactions, and we are committed to playing our part in helping the financial community to operate as efficiently as possible.”
TCH SVP of product and strategy Steve Ledford added: “Given its reach and expertise in payments, SWIFT is a great collaborator as we bring a wide-scale real-time payments system to the U.S. market. Achieving our vision of broad adoption of real-time payments will only be possible when the majority of U.S. institutions are able to participate, and SWIFT will be instrumental in helping us meet this goal.”
