ADVERTISEMENT

‎‎‎ ‏‏‎

Ripple says a new report on extended payment delays and errors on the traditional global payments network Swift paints a stark picture on the importance of crypto, blockchain and digital assets like XRP.

A new exposé from The Guardian tracks four stories of people and charities getting thousands of dollars stuck in cross-border payment flows executed through Swift.

According to the report, the acronym SWIFT (Society of Worldwide InterBank Financial Telecommunications) has often “proved to be a misnomer.”

Charity Payment Snaffu

“Elaine and Malcolm Thompson’s charity, St Paul’s Children’s Project, pays school fees and expenses for 36 orphans in Zambia. In October they made a payment using the Swift system of £11,000 from the charity’s Barclays account to its designated bank in Zambia, but it never arrived…

ADVERTISEMENT

Family Transfer Lost

“Martin Finnegan* was told the £2,450 sent from his Nationwide account to his mother-in-law in Russia would take an estimated three days. Three months later it was still in transit, location unknown…

Account Transfer Delayed

“In June, Jane Collins* nearly lost the home she was buying after moving to Canada because the £54,000 deposit transferred from her Nationwide account went missing. It eventually arrived six weeks later. Nationwide blamed poor communications along the chain of banks…

Holiday Deposit Refunded

ADVERTISEMENT

“Laura Fulcher waited five months for a £500 holiday deposit to reach her Ghanaian tour operator. It was eventually refunded after the Observer contacted her bank, TSB. It also repaid associated expenses and added interest and £50 in compensation for the ‘inconvenience’.”

Ripple’s global head of strategic accounts Marcus Treacher tweeted about the new report, saying it reveals the need for a global payments infrastructure upgrade to create an efficient “internet of value.”

Timely reminder of why our Ripple mission is so important. Building the #IoV for super-fast, transparent and reliable payments worldwide https://t.co/TZ3iOVOaks — Marcus Treacher (@marcus_treacher) December 9, 2018

Swift recently announced it’s working on a new payments API to reduce errors on the network.

The new system is not based on blockchain technology, which Swift has said is not ready for use in the mainstream.