KBC clients can track and trace their international payments. No more phoning the bank to find out when the beneficiary received their payment.
‘It will help businesses with international operations to work a lot more efficiently’, Jutta Cammaer from KBC Working Capital Solutions.
Filip Ferrante, General Manager at KBC Corporate Banking, talks to his corporate clients on a daily basis.
‘International payments are a frustration for many businesses. Precisely when a beneficiary will receive their money is often a gamble. Since the time needed for payments to be processed isn’t transparent, you frequently don’t know when certain goods will be released. That’s inconvenient, to put it mildly.’
Jutta Cammaer adds: ‘There’s uncertainty too about the precise amount the beneficiary will end up receiving: the intermediary banks within the payment chain add their charges, which means the amount the beneficiary receives can differ from the sum agreed. Not to mention the risk that the information attached for the beneficiary will get lost along the way, leaving companies scratching their heads about linking received payments to the relevant invoices.’
Track & Trace payments worldwide
‘All this isn’t just inefficient, it no longer meets our clients’ needs’, says Jutta Cammaer, head of Working Capital Solutions at KBC Corporate Banking. ‘Businesses rightly expect a process that is rapid and transparent.’
SWIFT, the technology firm that facilitates the settlement of international payments, has therefore come up with a solution: the Global Payments Innovation Initiative (GPI).
GPI is a program intended to improve the speed and transparency of payments between banks, so the latter can in turn offer an enhanced customer experience. Over 100 banks around the world have already signed up, accounting for some 75 percent of international payment traffic. But what does this commitment mean specifically for clients of KBC Corporate Banking?
‘Our clients can track their international payments electronically. This is an excellent Track & Trace tool that shows what the costs are, how far a payment has got at a particular moment and when the beneficiary received it. It means our clients can do business more efficiently with suppliers abroad.’
Jutta Cammaer – Working Capital Solutions KBC Corporate Banking
There are also benefits for companies with international customers. GPI allows same-day use of funds, for instance, which means they gain quicker access to money received from abroad. And last but not least, GPI-compliant banks are committed to passing on the parties’ information unchanged. ‘So the beneficiary can identify the payment much faster – that will save a lot of time, too’, Cammaer says.