In a world-first, Westpac (Australia) sent a transaction to India via Standard Chartered under the new retail payments scheme from Swift
FinTech BizNews Service
Mumbai, July 2, 2026: Standard Chartered today announced that it has processed a remittance payment under the new retail payments scheme from Swift. In a world-first, Westpac (Australia) sent a transaction to India via Standard Chartered via this scheme. Leveraging its advanced capabilities in India, Standard Chartered enabled near real-time credit to the beneficiary bank, demonstrating a major leap in the country’s payment ecosystem.
Kiran Shetty, Chief Executive of Swift India and South Asia
This transaction was completed in 37 seconds end-to-end. This reiterates the Bank’s ability to
complete an end-to-end transaction with any participating bank in India in record time using Swift
rails. As well as the fastest possible settlement time, Swift’s retail payments scheme delivers
benefits to both senders and receivers of international payments, including end-to-end
transparency so that a payment can be tracked, upfront certainty of cost with no hidden fees, and
no surprise FX deductions, so that the amount that is sent is exactly what lands in the
beneficiary’s bank account.
At an event hosted by Swift in collaboration with the Indian Banks’ Association, focused on
modernising payments, P D Singh, CEO, India & South Asia, Standard Chartered was felicitated
to mark the achievement as the first bank in India to process a payment under the Swift
scheme.
P D Singh, CEO, India & South Asia, at Standard Chartered, said, “Our cross-border and
network capabilities have been the cornerstones of the Bank’s sharp focus across key markets
including India. It is indeed a moment of great pride for Standard Chartered, India, to be globally
the first bank to process a payment within seconds under Swift’s retail payment scheme. We’re
enabling people all over the world to send money back to India just as easily as they can send
money domestically.
With this initiative they will get a truly best-in-class payments experience backed by the security of
the banking ecosystem, and we’re delighted to be working with the industry to make it possible,”
Singh added.
Kiran Shetty, Chief Executive of Swift India and South Asia, said, “This demonstrates the
power of Swift’s cutting-edge capabilities; leveraging its existing global rails to drive real
transformation in cross-border payments. For India, the world’s largest recipient of remittances,
where they play a significant role in GDP, this evolution is particularly critical.
By enabling greater speed, transparency, and an improved customer experience, bringing cross-
border payments closer to the simplicity of domestic UPI; Swift is helping unlock a new standard
for remittances. Standard Chartered Bank’s initiative is a strong proof point that this shift is not
only possible, but already underway in India, with the potential to redefine how remittances are
experienced. It is also highly encouraging to see the continued regulatory push in India supporting
this direction, further accelerating the move towards a faster, more transparent, and customer-
centric payments ecosystem anchored by Swift,” Shetty added.
