Richard Humphreys |
Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon), SWIFT and Microsoft have unveiled their new cloud-based messaging solution at this week’s Sibos event in London.
The Cloud Connect payments capability, which is built for banks, financial institutions and enterprises, has been validated following a test transaction which saw BNY Mellon execute payments for Microsoft's Treasury Department. Microsoft's Treasury group manages more than US$150 billion in assets and, dwarfing many financial institutions, transacts over US$400 billion per year in SWIFT-based payments, supporting operations in more than 190 countries.
Cloud Connect hosts SWIFT infrastructure and enables payment transfers via the Microsoft Azure cloud. Until now, companies and financial institutions that wanted to initiate transactions through payment messages sent over the SWIFT network had to have their own on-premise installations of SWIFT technology. Hosting SWIFT infrastructure on the cloud instead of with every financial institution reduces the need for on-premise equipment, and enhances the speed, consistency and security of transaction processing.
“We focus on delivering world class solutions that exceed our clients’ expectations,” said BNY Mellon Treasury Services CEO Paul Camp. “Together with SWIFT, we work to enhance the payments experience for our clients around the world. Now, helping make SWIFT Cloud Connect real, we are pleased to collaborate with Microsoft to leverage their cloud expertise and advance the frontiers of financial technology, offering a new level of service for SWIFT participants.”
Microsoft corporate vice president and treasurer George Zinn said: “From a treasury perspective, the deployment of SWIFT messaging solutions in the cloud enables faster, more efficient and secure payment operations for all concerned. It's exciting to see Microsoft Azure be the first cloud platform completing a wire transaction via this successful test of the proof-of-concept. Having our trusted payments service provider BNY Mellon validate the capabilities of SWIFT Cloud Connect on Azure was an important validation point for us, and we look forward to working with BNY Mellon Treasury Services to ensure we continue to deploy the best possible payment solutions now and in future.”