SWIFT CEO reveals plans to link with blockchain firm R3 - Report

Global banking payments network SWIFT has revealed its plans to link with enterprise blockchain software firm R3, CoinDesk reported.

SWIFT CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt announced the plans while speaking at the Paris Fintech Forum. He said:

“Later today we are announcing integration with R3.”

Leibbrandt shared the stage with Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse at the event.

In 2017, SWIFT launched SWIFT global payments innovation (gpi), which aims to transform the cross-border payments landscape. In an announcement dated January 23, SWIFT said that SWIFT gpi accounts for over half (55%) of cross-border payment instructions carried over SWIFT.

It remains to be seen how SWIFT plans to link with R3. A Twitter user, going by the name “XRPiano,” said, “The SWIFT CEO referred to participants being able to initiate SWIFT GPI transactions through R3’s platform.”

Last year, a number of reports suggested that SWIFT was considering integrating with RippleNet ahead of its network upgrade which would have made Ripple products available to around 4,000 extra banks. However, SWIFT denied the reports and said:

“I’m not sure where those rumours are coming from but the upcoming standards release … is entirely unrelated to RippleNet.”

In December, R3 launched Corda Settler – an application that will facilitate global cryptocurrency payments on Corda. It added XRP as the first settlement mechanism.

“The deployment of the Corda Settler and its support for XRP as the first settlement mechanism is an important step in showing how the powerful ecosystems cultivated by two of the of the world’s most influential crypto and blockchain communities can work together,” said Richard Gendal Brown, Chief Technology Officer at R3, said at the time.

[Correction: The article has been edited to mention that SWIFT is "linking" with R3, not "integrating" as mentioned previously. To read about SWIFT's PoC with R3 click here.]