SWIFT, a global provider of financial messaging services, has announced a joint venture with six partner banks that will establish a financial messaging system in India (view press release).

The new venture will cater to the high and low-value payments markets and will allow individual banks and the financial community as a whole to reduce complexity, risks and costs, and aims to improve service to bank customers.

Patrick de Courcy, Head of Markets and Initiatives, Asia Pacific, said: “SWIFT’s aspirations are always to provide the financial community with reliable, secure and scalable messaging services via standard and proven SWIFT technology. To fulfil our core mission in the fast-emerging market in India, we have tailored our solutions to local needs, and this joint venture is a significant milestone to serving the domestic market in India.”

“The India JV is the first ever by SWIFT. The present agreement is culmination of strong support from the SWIFT Board, lot of hard work by the SWIFT team, support and endorsement by the Reserve Bank of India and participation by large banks in India. I am optimistic and I look forward to rollout of domestic SWIFT secure financial messaging services in India,” said Bhavesh Zaveri, Country Head Operations & Head of Cash Management Products, HDFC Bank, India and a member of the SWIFT Board.

Initiative Director for SWIFT for India, Saqib Sheikh added: “It is only the beginning, but it is a great start. Building on a strong partnership with our Indian community we will service domestic markets with shared commitment and risks, and strive to deliver world-class messaging services with the same high quality our customers have come to expect from us.”