HSBC introduces payment validation service to reduce transaction delays

The lender is the first bank globally to add real-time account verification for UAE customers

HSBC's new service uses technology to reduce the risk of payment delays caused by inaccurate beneficiary information. PA

HSBC, Europe's largest lender, has introduced a Swift payment service to reduce transfer delays for UAE-based customers through the use of real-time account verification.

The validation service uses “cutting-edge technology” to reduce the risk of payment delays caused by inaccurate beneficiary information, HSBC said.

“We are the first bank globally to introduce this solution that uses smart technology to verify account information in real time,” said Kyle Boag, HSBC's regional head of global payments solutions in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.

“Wrong beneficiary name and account details tend to be the leading cause of payment delays, but with errors removed, our corporate customers can operate more efficiently, and at pace.

“We’re digitising payments at scale … to make banking easier and more secure for our customers.”

Friction in the payments system costs the industry more than $2 billion every year and affects more than 700 million transactions, according to international payments network Swift.

But much of this friction is the result of avoidable errors, such as typos and formatting errors.

The new service can help to avoid these problems by validating key information before a payment is sent. This results in frictionless payments and fewer delays, according to Swift.

Before sending a payment, banks can check the validity of the beneficiary account by comparing it against Swift’s transaction data.

With the data being centralised, banks can validate payments against all historical transactions.

The validation of key information will provide a predictable payment experience for bank customers, Swift said.

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Globally, digital payments are projected to nearly double to $8.26 trillion by 2024, from $4.4 trillion in 2020, according to data research company Statista.

“In addition to account verification introduced earlier by the bank, matching and checking beneficiary names in real time has further enhanced the payment process, ensuring customers can make payments with greater confidence,” HSBC said.

The validation feature uses new application programming interface (API) technology to check beneficiary account details entered in HSBCnet, the bank’s digital banking platform, ahead of payments being made, according to the lender.