🌐 Processing the World’s Payments

Welcome to Latinometrics. We bring you Latin American insights and trends through concise, thought-provoking data visualizations.

Swift is a cornerstone of the global economy. Established just over 50 years ago, this global network facilitates quick and secure cross-border transfers. In fact, every three days, a value equivalent to the entire world’s GDP moves through a network spanning 150 currencies, 11.5K+ institutions, 4B accounts, and over 200 countries and territories.

Within Latin America, Swift is widely used by the region’s largest banks and clearing houses to send cross-border financial messages. In the case of Mexico, for example, the United States is the top sender and receiver of Swift messages, while Ireland is interestingly the 2^nd-largest recipient of Mexican Swift flows.

This year marks a crucial milestone for Swift. The network has set a deadline for migration to ISO 20022 by November of this year.

So what exactly is ISO 20022?

Think of this new ISO as a global standard for financial messaging, one which makes data richer, more structured, and easier to process. In one recent report from Monitor Deloitte, adoption was estimated to help modernize the system by:

• Reducing false positives in sanctions screening by 25–30%

• Automating the classification of up to 84% of payment messages, significantly reducing the time and effort required for manual investigations

• Enabling financial institutions to better personalize services based on customer needs

• Facilitating faster payment reconciliation for corporate treasurers

Swift adoption remains close to projections; however, significant progress is needed to remain on track for the November deadline. Our partner this week, Monitor Deloitte, is supporting several institutions in this transition.

Our partner 🤝

Migrating to Swift’s ISO 20022 brings significant benefits for financial institutions and customers, but it also presents unique implementation challenges that must be considered.

Monitor Deloitte can assist in making this transition. Learn more by reviewing their latest report about ISO 20022 and discover how financial institutions can maximize these benefits. Now is the time to act!

Comment of the Week 🗣️

Luiz and Graciela share their admiration for Brazil’s Pix system.

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