Financial telecommunication firm SWIFT has announced that it has been admitted to the next phase of the tender process to provide connectivity services to all Eurosystem market infrastructures (also known as TARGET services).
The public tender process for ESMIG Network Service Providers was launched in late January 2019 by Banca d’Italia acting on behalf of the Eurosystem.
If successful in the next phase, SWIFT will be awarded a concession to provide ESMIG connectivity services from November 2021, becoming a Network Service Provider for the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services.
Alain Raes, Chief Executive EMEA and Asia Pacific, SWIFT, said: “We are delighted to have completed phase one of the tender process to become a Network Service Provider for ESMIG.”
Combined with the firm’s existing connectivity to EBA CLEARING’s EURO1/STEP1, RT1 and STEP 2 services, this would allow banks to use its services to process all of their euro payment messages including: high-value payments, SEPA payments, instant payments and cross-border payments.
SWIFT said its users will “future-proof and maximise their investment, gaining a single-window for connectivity to Eurosystem’s TARGET Services”.
The Belgian-based company also have access to 254 market infrastructures world-wide and to SWIFT gpi for cross-border payments.
Raes continued: “We look forward to working with the Eurosystem and our customers to ensure a smooth and highly successful community migration to ISO 20022 and the new ESMIG platform.
“This migration represents a major milestone for Europe’s market infrastructure and paves the way for further harmonisation and integration of financial and capital markets across the EU.”
SIA-COLT were also involved in the bidding for the provision of market infrastructure connectivity services.
