Immediate Cross-border Payments (IXB)
New advancements continue to emerge with the persistent strengthening of interconnectedness among global economies. However contrary to popular opinion, tokenisation and digital currencies may not be the only solution.
With the support of 25 major financial institutions, EBA CLEARING, a European payment infrastructure solutions firm owned by 48 financial institutions across Europe, The Clearing House (TCH), a US-based payments network, and SWIFT, a global member-owned secure financial messaging services provider, have developed Immediate Cross-border Payments (IXB); the newest development in the revolution of cross-border payments between the US and Europe.
IXB leverages the latest real-time payment systems, RTP® and RT1, to provide businesses and individuals with efficient, secure and transparent payment options.
And the need has never been greater, cross-Atlantic businesses worldwide are turning to their banks and financial institutions to facilitate their need for efficient and trust-worthy cross-border payments.
With the backing of key regulatory bodies, including the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the European Central Bank, IXB is expected to become the new standard for cross-border payments between the US and Europe.
What is IXB in Banking?
IXB stands for Immediate Cross-border Payments, an initiative focused on providing a fast and efficient cross-border payment corridor between the US and Europe.
It combines the current real-time payment systems, RTP® in the US and RT1 in Europe, to facilitate these transactions.
The three key international payment processing players mentioned above aim to provide businesses and individuals with an even more transparent, 24/7 payment transfer system that will ensure a shorter time to market, leverage existing investments, and execute immediate cross-currency transactions.
Executive Vice President for Product Development and Strategy at TCH, Russ Waterhouse, said in a recent interview that ”The trans-Atlantic pilot service will provide valuable input for the development of a fully-fledged IXB service to meet customer expectations across the globe”.
What Banks are Part of IXB?
As a result of the great success IXB saw in its pilot phase, an increasing number of banks are beginning to adopt the technology.
Some of the major banks testing and adopting the IXB initiative include JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. Working closely with IXB’s creators, these banks are developing methods for seamlessly integrating the IXB technology into their existing systems. Here’s what the three founding companies of IXB had to say:
“We look forward to the important insights and learnings we expect to gain from this pilot phase, which should help us tune the service for commercial rollout in 2023.”, said the Head of New Initiatives at EBA CLEARING, Petra Plompen.
Rusiru Gunasena, the Senior Vice President of the current RTP® Product Management and Strategy at the Clearing House said “the IXB pilot will help prepare for a full commercial rollout that will revolutionise the way cross-border payments are made between the United States and Europe”.
He continued: “the connection between RTP and RT1 delivers a new way of moving money across borders safely, quickly, and at a lower cost. The IXB model is also designed to add additional currency corridors in the near future.”
David Watson the Chief Strategy Officer of SWIFT said: ”SWIFT is committed to ensuring instant, frictionless and interoperable transactions around the world. We are working on many fronts to achieve this, and bringing common standards to link market infrastructure projects is a fundamental pillar of our strategy. We are pleased to support the IXB project as it comes to fruition and the live exchange of cross-border instant payments gets underway.”
As these leading banks begin to fully adopt IXB, it is expected that other payment platforms and banking applications will also begin to integrate the technology, including ubiquitous payment platforms such as PayPal, Venmo, and Square, in addition to many other smaller banks, credit unions and fintech companies.
How Does IXB Benefit Businesses?
The IXB initiative offers a plethora of benefits to businesses, particularly those that operate in the US and Europe:
- Transparent payments
One of IXB’s main advantages is its ability to make transparent payments in real time. Businesses can ensure that their payments are processed quickly and efficiently without intermediaries or delays.
- Availability
Another important selling point of IXB is its 24/7 availability. Companies can make cross-border payments at any time, day or night, which is particularly useful for those that operate and conduct business in cross-Atlantic time zones. This will allow for greater payment flexibility between companies.
- Wider reach
IXB also enables businesses to reach a wider audience. By leveraging the real-time payment systems RTP® and RT1, IXB allows for faster and more efficient cross-border payments, which can help businesses to expand their customer base and thus, increase their overall revenue potential.
- Fully regulated
Unlike current payment processing alternatives such as blockchain technology and digital currencies, IXB complies with the regulatory bodies mentioned above. This means that businesses can be confident in the security and reliability of the system, which will in turn improve its speed to market and adoption.
This compliance also ensures that the businesses adhere to the standards set by the regulatory bodies which will protect businesses from penalties or fines.
- Untapped expansion potential
Although tokenisation, such as digital currencies, allows for easy international cross-border currency conversion, it’s still in its early stages of development.
The IXB model, on the other hand, is designed to add additional currency corridors in the near future, which could include peer-to-peer transactions, as well as business-to-business ones.
Monneo, Supporting Innovation
Overall, IXB offers many exciting upcoming benefits for businesses, making it an attractive option for those keen to expand their global operations or improve their current relations with faster, transparent and more secure payments.
Monneo is a company that is dedicated to supporting innovation in the banking industry, particularly when it comes to global payments. The company’s vision is to allow business owners to send and receive payments from multiple accounts using a single platform, making it easier for businesses to manage their finances and take advantage of new opportunities in the global marketplace.
Monneo is already an innovative payment solution and is known for its ability to provide businesses with a more secure and transparent way to make payments. The company’s platform is built on the latest technology and is designed to be easy to use, even for those unfamiliar with the complexities of international banking.
If you are a business owner interested in learning more about IXB banking, feel free to contact Monneo with your questions. We would be happy to learn about your business and explain how this would benefit you.
