Citi said on September 29, 2026, that it is the first bank to go live with multiple markets on the Swift payments scheme, the framework for consumer cross-border payments that Swift launched in June. Its participating client banks can now send payments over their existing Swift connection that are credited in real time in Australian dollars, British pounds, and Indian rupees through each country’s domestic instant payment system, and in US dollars to Citi account holders.
They need no local bank account, bilateral agreement, or local technical infrastructure in each market, Citi says. The service runs on Citi’s WorldLink Payment Services and its proprietary Global Clearing network. Citi plans to add currencies and markets but gave no timeline.
Three domestic instant rails, plus Citi’s own dollar network
Citi has enabled real-time payments through the scheme in AUD via Australia’s New Payments Platform (NPP), in GBP via the UK’s Faster Payment System (FPS), and in INR via India’s Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), drawing on what it calls “mature ISO 20022 (MX) capabilities.” The dollar leg works differently. It runs over Citi’s internal network, and the payments are “credited directly to Citi account holders in real time,” according to the release.
| Currency | Destination | Rail | Credit to the beneficiary |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUD | Australia | NPP (New Payments Platform) | Real time |
| GBP | UK | FPS (Faster Payment System) | Real time |
| INR | India | IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) | Real time |
| USD | US | Citi’s internal network | Real time, to Citi account holders |
A single Swift connection in place of local accounts
Until now, offering instant cross-border payments into several countries meant opening an account in each local market, signing bilateral agreements with partner banks, and building custom integrations to each local clearing system, Citi says. Its client banks now go through their existing Swift connection and a single account structure. The scheme is available to the more than 12,500 financial institutions connected to Swift, and Citi offers the multi-market service to its participating bank clients.
Swift’s scheme now involves more than 100 banks
Swift launched the scheme in June and says it now involves more than 100 banks. On August 11, American Banker counted Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase among about 60 banks in 25 countries that had adopted it. Sending customers can view the cost, exchange rate, and estimated processing time, and receiving banks credit the customer in near real time “if the local market allows that,” the publication reported.
A day before Citi’s announcement, Swift called a pay-by-alias project “the next step in the development of Swift’s consumer payments scheme.” Built around domestic systems such as Bizum, PayID, and Pix, it is meant to let senders pay abroad using a mobile phone number or email address.
“The future of banking is real-time, always-on, and increasingly interconnected,” said Debopama Sen, Citi’s head of payments for Services.
Leigh Amaro, chief executive for the Americas at Swift, was quoted in Citi’s release: “As usage of Swift’s retail payments framework grows and more corridors become active, greater certainty over cost and delivery time, full-value transfers and end-to-end visibility into international payments will become a reality for more people and businesses around the world.”
WorldLink adds instant corridors to a 135-currency network
The launch extends WorldLink, which gives clients direct connectivity, through one relationship, to nine instant payment schemes and near real-time wires in 20 currencies and 54 markets, according to Citi. WorldLink pays in 135 currencies with integrated foreign exchange across more than 4,500 currency pairs, and can also pay into wallets and cards.