The announcement by the global payments network Swift noted a robust effort to make instant payments available to small and medium-sized enterprises.

According to Swift, its aim is to be at the forefront worldwide when it comes to account-to-account and business-to-business transactions. The firm took on Visa and Mastercard, including new fintech firms such as Ripple.

Last month, in a meeting held by the firm’s Board and Executive, the plans of supporting financial institutions’ payments and securities businesses and making the firm’s platform richer, smarter and faster was approved. With the firm’s efforts, the movement of transactions from account-to-account globally within the end-to-end payments chain will be instant and without friction.

Finextra reported that as the firm’s platform is expanding, it will help financial institutions towards strengthening their positions in B2B payments and capturing new volume in SME and consumer segments.

According to CGI’s Andy Schmidt, Swift’s move is possibly the most remarkable since 1970s. He said maybe because the announcement was influenced by banks’ ownership of Swift, the change in direction could make the banks take over the interconnectivity of nascent instant payments schemes.

Over a long period, SMEs have been Ripple’s target as a high-growth revenue opportunity, with its payment messaging system and the cryptocurrency asset XRP.

According to Ripple’s white paper on small business payments in 2019, it was noted that SMEs stand for a dynamic and developing force within the cross-border payments domain. Developed nations are the source of two out of three of these payments, while profitability and growth are two-times in nascent markets as in the developed world.

In conclusion, perhaps it will take a few years for the firm’s new strategy to be developed. Swift wants to start the implementation of the payments expansion towards the end of 2022. In the end, this will be a worthwhile effort.