Our SWIFT Payment Tracking tool takes advantage of our connection to SWIFT gpi to provide you with visibility over SWIFT payments.
This guide will help you navigate our SWIFT Payment Tracking interface within Direct and explain some of the features and terminology in detail.
Overview
Currencycloud is proud to be a member of SWIFT gpi, an initiative designed to create further transparency and tracking capabilities for SWIFT payments around the world.
You can now track in real time the status of a SWIFT payment made by you or your customers, with a full breakdown of charges deducted at each point in the journey.
Introduction to SWIFT payments
SWIFT is a payment rail that functions by allowing participating banks to communicate payment orders to each other. Rather than actually transferring funds, banks send one another instructions to debit or credit the accounts they hold with one another.
If the payer bank does not have an account with the beneficiary bank, they may have to go through an intermediary (or ‘correspondent’) bank. As more banks are added, a chain is created. Some intermediary and beneficiary banks may charge to process SWIFT payments.
With SWIFT payment tracking, Currencycloud allows you to see which bank is currently processing that payment and all deductions.
SWIFT payment tracking in Direct
Statuses
There are three statuses shown in the interface (as per the API):
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Processing
This status shows that the payment has been instructed by the paying bank but the beneficiary bank has not yet confirmed that the beneficiary has been credited. For more information, check the Payment Tracker or Payment Events tab.
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Rejected
This status means that the payment has failed on its way to the beneficiary. This can be for a number of reasons. In this situation, please allow 5 days for funds to return - if you still haven't received them after 5 working days, please contact support@currencycloud.com.
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Completed
This status means that the beneficiary bank has confirmed to the SWIFT network that the ultimate beneficiary’s bank account has been credited with the payment.
Please note that these statuses may differ to what you see elsewhere within Direct for a particular SWIFT payment. For the most up-to-date information, navigate to the SWIFT payment tracking interface. Please see the FAQ for more information.
Instruction types
Within Direct, two types of instructions are pulled through:
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Funds Transfer
- This instruction is from a payer bank to SWIFT. It tells SWIFT the amount and time that they have sent the payment to the next bank in the chain.
- In the API, this `tracker_type` is `customer_credit_transfer_payment`.
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Final Confirmation of Payment
- This instruction is from the ultimate beneficiary bank to SWIFT. It tells SWIFT that the payment has been received and confirms any final charges taken by the ultimate beneficiary.
- In the API, this `tracker_type` is `customer_credit_transfer_payment_status_update`.
Please note that we do not inform you of cover payment instructions or cancelled payment instructions within the Direct platform. However, these are present within the API.
Status reasons
Generally, we don’t show status reasons in our interface, with the exception of the following. These can explain why something still has the status ‘Processing’.
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May not confirm same day
- This means that the beneficiary bank either does not report back to SWIFT the status of received funds, or that they have not yet updated the status.
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Transferred and not tracked
- This means that funds have been sent to a bank outside the SWIFT network. Funds should still be sent to the beneficiary bank, but they may not report back to SWIFT that they have received them
Useful definitions
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BIC
A Bank Identifier Code (BIC) is a unique code that tells the SWIFT network which bank is making/receiving messages. -
UETR
A Unique End-to-End Tracking Reference (UETR) is a unique tracking number associated with a payment. -
Charge Type
The type of deduction made by the receiving bank. See here for more details. -
Received amount / Received time
Please note that Currencycloud infers these times/amounts, based on the times/amounts instructed by the previous bank in the chain.
FAQ
Is the data in the tracking tool up-to-date?
Yes, the data is shown in real-time, meaning that you and your customers have immediate visibility and transparency over any payment you or they have sent via the SWIFT network.
What is a typical timeframe for a payment?
The vast majority of payments are credited on the same day, with beneficiaries in certain countries seeing payments landing in seconds, minutes, or hours. As of October 2020, 42% of all SWIFT payments we send credit the beneficiary bank account in under 5 minutes.
Is payment tracking available as an API?
Yes. If you currently connect via our APIs, you’ll be able to integrate the functionality into your app or website, using our payment tracking API. Speak to your Customer Success Manager for more detail.
Why does my payment say “Processing” still?
“Processing” within SWIFT Payment Tracking means that we have not received final confirmation from the beneficiary bank that the payment has been received.
This is either because i) the payment has not yet been received or ii) the beneficiary bank has not (yet) reported back to the SWIFT network that payment has been received.
Please note that elsewhere within Currencycloud Direct, you may see a SWIFT payment marked as ‘Completed’ - this means that the money has left Currencycloud’s client account. It does not mean that the money has been credited to the beneficiary - use SWIFT Payment Tracking to find out this information.
Are all payment events reported?
All payments made through Currencycloud are enabled for SWIFT gpi. Every SWIFT gpi-enabled payment is assigned a unique ID that allows it to be tracked at any point across the network. SWIFT gpi is growing but, currently, not all banks around the world are SWIFT gpi-enabled. Payment tracking data may, therefore, be incomplete for some payments we send out.
What is Universal Confirmation?
Universal Confirmations were mandated for all SWIFT members in November 2020. This means that SWIFT members must confirm when a payment (MT 103) has been credited to the account of the beneficiary, placed on hold or transferred outside of SWIFT. The introduction of Universal Confirmations has improved coverage on tracking visibility.
As a beneficiary Financial Institution of SWIFT payments (our SWIFT VANs), we are obligated to confirm to the SWIFT tracker when we have credited funds to a customer's account (or returned them).
Universal Confirmations are not sign-posted in the Direct interface.
What is the benefit of Universal Confirmation?
On inbound transactions (collections and receipts), any sending banks using SWIFT gpi can see when any funds they send to us have landed successfully and been credited. On outbound payments, this ensures we get even better coverage on tracking visibility.