Canadian Banks RBC and TD Launch Swift's Cross-Border Payment Upgrade

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and TD Bank Group (TD) have activated a new consumer payments initiative from Swift designed to enhance inbound international transfers for recipients in Canada.

The programme establishes fresh standards for international retail transfers and aims to deliver a substantially improved experience for Canadians receiving money from abroad, according to Swift.

Swift operates the global network linking more than 11,500 financial institutions across over 200 markets worldwide.

The initiative introduces several enhancements to the international transfer process for consumers:

• Recipients receive the full amount sent without unexpected deductions
• Many payments reach accounts within minutes
• Transfers may be instant where local banking systems support it
• Senders see fees and exchange rates upfront before confirming transactions

RBC and TD are initially supporting inbound transfers from Australia and Belgium, with additional markets planned for future rollout.

RBC Capital Markets Global Transaction Banking managing director Sebastian Becerra highlighted the bank's leadership position:

RBC is proud to be the first bank in North America to go live with Swift's new initiative – an important step in advancing goals of the G20 Roadmap for modernizing international payments.

As Canadian consumers and businesses increasingly expect cross-border payments to be faster, more transparent and more predictable, our early action underscores our commitment to delivering seamless cross-border payment experiences.

TD Securities managing director and Transaction Banking Product head Christopher Chazin emphasised the growing importance of efficient cross-border payment infrastructure:

As Canada's connections to global markets continue to grow, having access to efficient and transparent cross-border payments becomes increasingly important.

TD's participation in the Swift scheme represents an important step in meeting the evolving needs of Canadians and Canadian businesses by enhancing visibility, predictability and confidence throughout the payment journey, and helping deliver a more seamless and secure payments experience.

More than 60 banks across 25 countries are backing the initiative, which launched this year.

UK institutions including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and NatWest recently adopted the framework as well, signalling growing industry support for the new remittance standards.