Deutsche Bank to roll out SWIFT's BAV service

This reportedly minimises the risk of payment failure due to incorrect data, removing a key point of friction in cross-border transactions. The BAV solution enables Deutsche Bank to ensure that payments from its clients are arriving at the intended beneficiary using the correct account details, by validating the information centrally via SWIFT. It also allows the Bank to support other participating banks by responding to incoming account validation requests. The solution uses a real-time Application Programming Interface (API) to check the existence of beneficiaries from key account details, validating the end beneficiary before executing the actual payment. 

This has the potential to significantly reduce time spent by both banks and corporates on the management of fraudulent payments and payments made with incorrect details. The use of APIs also makes it easy for the service to be plugged into existing processes on the corporate client side, including supplier onboarding or vendor management.

Deutsche Bank offers the solution on a global basis. Having centralised core banking activities into a single platform over the past few years, the bank has been able to build a straightforward API layer on top to incorporate SWIFT’s new BAV service, enabling it to validate accounts across its global markets in real time.

In addition, the BAV service is expected to be incorporated into the bank’s online cash management channel in 2022, where clients could pre-validate their beneficiary accounts while the payments are being created online.

According to SWIFT, the BAV service currently has more than 70 banks signed up worldwide, and Deutsche Bank’s launch will help extend the overall coverage of the service. In the next quarter, SWIFT has plans to continue improving this coverage, onboarding more banks, and taking more live with the service.