SWIFT, today announced that the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems have gone live on SWIFTNet in Macau and Taiwan.

Macao
On 28 January 2013, the Monetary Authority of Macao (AMCM) launched the RTGS system for Macau Pataca (MOP), after their announcement of the implementation a year ago. The RTGS operations at AMCM and the participating banks have been running smoothly since the launch. As the transaction volumes continue to grow, and the HKD and RMB settlement continues to increase for retail, trade and settlement and investment in Macau, it is expected that these currencies will be added to the RTGS system in the future.

Taiwan
On 1 March 2013, the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) launched a new foreign-currency clearing and settlement platform facilitated by Financial Information Service Co., Ltd. The new platform links settlement banks and participating banks for different currencies and centralises cross-bank clearance for these transactions, which enhances efficiency and strengthens the overall competitiveness of the banking industry. It currently handles US Dollar (USD) and may extend to Renminbi (RMB) in July 2013. The platform also uses SWIFT FIN Y-Copy solution which provides the service administrator with a simple, flexible, and secure way to deal with financial transactions.

Rest of Asia-Pacific
In addition to Macau and Taiwan, SWIFT is also used by payment market infrastructures in nine other Asia-Pacific countries, including Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Fiji, Hong Kong and Indonesia, and in 67 RTGS systems around the world.