news


IBS Journal February 2016


Swift to return €32 million to its users worldwide ...continued from front page InterAct lets ‘institutions and


communities exchange messages in an automated and interactive way – an application sends a request message


to another application and receives an immediate response message’. FileAct ‘allows secure and reliable transfer of files and is typically used to


exchange batches of structured financial messages and large reports’.


Antony Peyton


…And gives go-ahead for Iranian banks to reconnect


Swift has given the go-ahead for Iranian banks to reconnect to its network. This development follows the


European Union (EU) announcing that the ‘Implementing Legislation’ has taken effect – which means an end to sanc- tions imposed on Iranian banks under EU Regulation in March 2012. Swift says it has ‘informed the rele-


vant stakeholders about the necessary measures that need to be put in place to make it possible for those banks that are delisted by the Implementing Regulation to reconnect to Swift’. It adds that ‘those banks that


are delisted by the Implementing Regulation will now automatically be able to reconnect to Swift, following the completion of our normal connection process (i.e. administrative and systems checks, connectivity and technical arrangements)’. Swift adds: ‘The Implementing


Regulation does not repeal all EU sanctions on all Iranian banks, therefore Swift remains prohibited from providing specialised financial messaging services to the EU-sanctioned Iranian banks that remain listed under EU Regulation.’ According to Press TV, an English


language news and documentary network (affiliated with the Islamic Re- public of Iran Broadcasting), the head of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Mohsen Jalalpour, told reporters in Tehran on 17th January ‘it is expected that sanc- tioned Iranian banks will reconnect to the system by 30th January at the latest’. Several Iranian private banks in-


cluding Dey, Saman, Pasargad, and Par- sian in addition to two state-run banks – Maskan and Keshavarzi – are currently connected to the Swift network.


Antony Peyton


Japanese banks plan new cross-border payments system, fees could fall by 90%


Japanese banks plan to set up a new inter- national money-forwarding system that will include ten other countries in the Asia-Pacific region – and which could cut fees by 90%. Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Bank-


ing Corp and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ are all looking to take part in the network, which will debut in 2018 at the earliest. The system is backed by the Japan’s


Financial Services Agency and the Japa- nese Bankers Association. There will be 11 participating coun-


tries in total – including China and Australia – and data systems companies from each nation will discuss the creation of the sys- tem. NTT Data will represent Japan.


How to make analytics work? IBS launches IBS Chat


Research by Nikkei Asian Review shows


that funds are wired from Japan about six million times per annum, exceeding JPY 180 trillion ($1.51 trillion). At present, transfers between Japanese


banks and overseas counterparts are han- dled one at a time. As a result, Nikkei Asian Review says


‘companies face estimated fees of JPY 4,000-5,000 per remittance, while individ- uals are charged JPY 5,000-6,000. These fees extrapolate to roughly JPY 30 billion annually’. Nikkei Asian Review adds: ‘Over-


seas money transfers are costly in Japan because only the megabanks and some regional banks can process them. Other


regional banks that normally do not deal with foreign financial institutions often rely on major banks to handle overseas trans- fers, as do credit associations and credit cooperatives. This tends to inflate service charges.’ The Japanese banks’ new internation-


al money-forwarding system is seen as a reaction to the rise of payments compa- nies – who are offering cross-border pay- ments at a cheaper rate. It is expected to be launched in 2018 or later. Banks will need to lower their service


fees if they are to compete with payments start-ups.


Antony Peyton


IBS Intelligence has launched its IBS Chat Forum, a global platform to bring industry participants together on everything related to banking and financial services technology. Log on to www.ibsintelligence.com/ibschat and connect with peers across the globe now!


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