Swift opens cross-border gateway for Bizum, PayID, Pix

SWIFT has launched a cross-border gateway that connects the domestic instant-payment systems Bizum in Spain, Pix in Brazil and PayID in Australia to its global messaging network. The service allows banks and payment providers to route payments between local instant rails so customers can use mobile numbers or aliases to send and receive money internationally.

The gateway translates payment instructions and routing data between the formats and identifiers used by each domestic system and the messaging formats SWIFT uses. That mapping lets a payment started on one instant rail reach an account on another without the sender needing to use an international bank account number or a separate cross-border transfer product.

Settlement of funds follows the participating banks’ settlement arrangements and the rules of the underlying domestic schemes. The gateway handles the messaging and routing required for cross-rail transfers but does not provide settlement itself.

The service is offered on SWIFT’s platform for SWIFT-connected banks, fintechs and payment processors that already access local instant rails through their domestic arrangements. Participants must set up technical connections and implement business rules to enable cross-rail traffic.

Rollout will proceed by corridor, with early participants and pilot partners completing technical testing before wider commercial availability. SWIFT said it plans to add more domestic instant-payment systems over time.

SWIFT built the gateway to link local real-time infrastructures with its global network so payments initiated on one national system can arrive on another without manual reconciliation. The development follows growth in domestic instant-payment systems and demand for simpler cross-border retail payment options.