The SWIFT pilot programme will facilitate the collection of real-time, more accurate and transparent financial data.
Society for WorldWide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), the society in charge of manage and direct communications between banks around the world, has announced its partnership with fintech Symbiont to develop a pilot program for the creation of a corporate data system on blockchain.
In addition to SWIFT and Symbiont, Several institutions such as Citigroup, Vanguard, Northern Group, and American Century Investment will participate in the pilot program.
This blockchain data system allows companies to offer More accurate data in near real time to global custody clients. The system will run on Symbiont's blockchain platform, Assembly, with the ability to manage smart contracts, creating a network that can be leveraged by the more than 11.000 institutions connected to the network. SWIFT network worldwide.
How will this new system work?
When an event occurs at a publicly traded company (dividend payments, exchange offers, mergers, auctions, or other corporate actions), information must be provided be shared quickly with investors, creditors and other stakeholders.
The automation of these communications has improved in recent years, but still relies heavily on manual processes which generate additional costs and risks. On the other hand, the large number of intermediaries, who have to transmit information, adds more risks.
“By bringing Assembly and Symbiont smart contracts together with SWIFT’s broader network, we will be able to automatically harmonize data from multiple sources in a corporate action event,” said Tom Zschach, Head of Innovation at SWIFT.
In this way, corporate action data from SWIFT messages are translated by the SWIFT Translator and uploaded to the Symbiont blockchain. There, the smart contracts Assembly will allow comparing the information shared between participants and point out any discrepancies, contradictions or inconsistencies that may appear among the custodians.
Symbiont's blockchain allows participants to take advantage of transparency by creating a unique and unalterable record, providing a digital audit trail, privacy, versatility and the delivery of key statistical data.
What benefits will it bring?
This solution could help providers distribute data in near real-time to legal custody clients, which in turn will make information available to asset managers in a timely manner, facilitating decision making.
It also has the power to enable asset managers and custodians automate the way they compare information on corporate actions sent to them from multiple sources, which would be a back-office more efficient.
Finally, with faster and more accurate information on company operations, asset managers will also be able to mitigate the risk of making mistakes investment, as well as avoiding serious losses or even fines.
Since 2017, SWIFT has been looking to keep up with the blockchain and crypto movement, looking for ways to adapt to the rise of CBDCs. To do so, it launched an innovative payments solution, GPI, which aims to improve payment tracking and fee transparency, while allowing customers to send cross-border payments 24 hours a day.
[hubspot type=cta portal=20298209 id=38fb28e1-1dc1-40e3-9098-5704ca7fcb07]
