The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) reportedly revealed an alliance with fintech firm Symbiont to offer accurate insights for financial entities via blockchain. 

Specifically, Vanguard, Citigroup, American Century Investments and Northern Trust are reportedly included in the list of the establishments taking part in the project.

Per the announcement, the pilot initiative “could help providers distribute data in near real time to global custody clients.” Via Assembly, Symbiont’s proprietary technology platform and smart contracts will be utilized for “to create a network effect that leverages the 11,000+ institutions connected to SWIFT globally.”

In 2017, Symbiont reportedly forged an alliance with Vanguard to enhance price index data distribution using blockchain, consuming data from funds equivalent to $1.3 trillion at the time.

“By bringing Symbiont’s Assembly and smart contracts together with SWIFT’s extensive network, we’re able to automatically harmonize data from multiple sources of a corporate action event,” Tom Zschach, chief Innovation Officer at SWIFT, additionally remarked. 

Per Zschach, Assembly’s smart contract would make it possible to “compare information shared between participants and flag discrepancies, contradictions or inconsistencies across custodians.”

Citing reasons related to the surge of central bank digital currencies (CBDC), the firm has been putting in extensive resources towards maintaining its relevance in the global economic order. 

In 2017, the interbank cooperative introduced its global payments’ innovation, gpi, with a goal of streamlining payments tracking and fee transparency, enabling clients to send cross-border payments 24 hours per day.