The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has announced that it has been working with SWIFT on an initiative to further enhance the speed and transparency of cross-border payments. The CBUAE says it will be the first central bank globally to implement such an initiative.

Adding transparency to cross-border payments

The integration between the CBUAE’s domestic UAE Funds Transfer System (UAEFTS) and SWIFT’s gpi Tracker will allow financial institutions sending cross-border payments to the UAE to benefit from increased transparency, certainty, and seamless transmission between the SWIFT network and the UAEFTS, by relying on the Tracker that is a tool offered by SWIFT, to enable banks to track their payment flows end-to-end in real-time.

"We are delighted to launch this initiative as it further enhances the attractiveness of the UAE financial market, strengthens the interoperability between international and domestic payment systems and increases transparency to offer best-in-class customer service," commented Dr. Sabri Al Azazi, chief operating officer of the Central Bank of the UAE.

UAEFTS will update SWIFT’s Tracker tool on behalf of its participants, both when a cross-border payment enters UAEFTS and when the funds are credited to the account of the final beneficiary in the UAE.

The improvement in the functionality of UAEFTS will include the ability for the sending bank to track payments in real-time until they are credited to the final beneficiary’s customer account in the UAE. This is designed to provide maximum visibility on ongoing cross- border transactions.

"The implementation of this project will improve the experience of financial institutions and their customers that send payments to the UAE from across the globe," said David Watson, chief strategy officer at SWIFT. "It is also the first one of its kind and we look forward to bringing this concept to other markets."

Meeting corporate transaction banking demands

Elsewhere in the UAE, Mashreq Bank has announced it is modernising its transaction banking capabilities in the Middle East and Africa with Oracle. To deliver faster innovation to its growing customer base, Mashreq will implement Oracle's Transaction Banking platform with solutions for digital banking, payments, trade finance, liquidity management, and virtual accounts. The bank says that with Oracle's componentised solution approach, it can better respond to the region's need for capital diversification and funding of local businesses.

"Transaction banking is undergoing a period of profound change," said Joel Van Dusen, group head of Corporate and Investment Banking at Mashreq. "Meeting the evolving requirements of our clients is of the utmost importance to us, and we are pleased to partner with Oracle to offer a future-ready transaction banking platform that supports their needs. Oracle delivers truly modern transaction banking technology that will help us to deliver innovation, expand coverage across industries, and deepen our relationship with customers. The initiative will also provide us with a greater ability to respond to customers’ needs with agility and innovation - a crucial part of our digital transformation strategy as well as our continued growth and expansion."

An innovative platform

Oracle’s transaction banking platform is a componentised building framework that is designed to drive faster product innovation through a flexible product and process development architecture. Now, Mashreq will be able to streamline its customer interactions on a common platform to drive more consistent service delivery and improved experiences.

"The extension of our collaboration with Mashreq is a testament to its trust in our global transaction banking technology advancements," said Venky Srinivasan, group vice president, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, and Japan at Oracle Financial Services. "We built our new corporate, transaction banking, and payments solutions to provide the digital experience corporate clients demand today. This includes flexibility for faster product innovation and execution of payments on modern standards-based platforms. Our solutions will enable Mashreq to offer true next-generation transaction banking to its customers."

For Mashreq’s corporate customers, Oracle Banking’s platform should help to deliver a more powerful digital experience, a future-proofed payments foundation, enhanced clarity around working capital, as well as a digitised trade process.