GLOBAL PAYMENTS KNOWLEDGEISO 20022 / SWIFT / SEPA / MT / MX
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SWIFT gpi (tracked correspondent payment)

A cross-border correspondent payment that settles bank to bank as before, but carries a UETR in the MT103 and posts each hop's status to the gpi Tracker for end-to-end visibility.

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Contributor Shubham Mathure

STEP 1 / 8MESSAGE

Bank Alfa sends the MT103 carrying a UETR

Bank Alfa (originator bank) → Meridian Bank (correspondent) · MT103

Asha Traders, a customer of Bank Alfa, is paying a supplier banked at Nordbank. Bank Alfa generates a UETR — a 36-character unique end-to-end transaction reference — embeds it in the MT103, and sends the instruction to its USD correspondent, Meridian Bank, which holds Bank Alfa's nostro account.

Step 1 of 8: Bank Alfa sends the MT103 carrying a UETR

  1. 01Message
    Bank Alfa sends the MT103 carrying a UETRBank Alfa (originator bank) → Meridian Bank (correspondent) · MT103
  2. 02Message
    Bank Alfa opens the trail on the gpi TrackerBank Alfa (originator bank) → gpi Tracker (Swift)
  3. 03Settlement
    Cover moves across the nostro relationshipBank Alfa (originator bank) → Meridian Bank (correspondent)
  4. 04Message
    Meridian forwards the MT103 to NordbankMeridian Bank (correspondent) → Nordbank (beneficiary bank) · MT103
  5. 05Message
    Meridian updates the gpi TrackerMeridian Bank (correspondent) → gpi Tracker (Swift)
  6. 06Settlement
    Money moves from Meridian to NordbankMeridian Bank (correspondent) → Nordbank (beneficiary bank)
  7. 07Posting
    Nordbank credits the supplierNordbank (beneficiary bank)
  8. 08Message
    Nordbank confirms the credit on the TrackerNordbank (beneficiary bank) → gpi Tracker (Swift) · MT103
MESSAGECLEARING OBLIGATIONSETTLEMENTPOSTING
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
  1. 01Message
    Bank Alfa sends the MT103 carrying a UETRBank Alfa (originator bank) → Meridian Bank (correspondent) · MT103

    Asha Traders, a customer of Bank Alfa, is paying a supplier banked at Nordbank. Bank Alfa generates a UETR — a 36-character unique end-to-end transaction reference — embeds it in the MT103, and sends the instruction to its USD correspondent, Meridian Bank, which holds Bank Alfa's nostro account.

  2. 02Message
    Bank Alfa opens the trail on the gpi TrackerBank Alfa (originator bank) → gpi Tracker (Swift)

    Keyed to that UETR, Bank Alfa writes the first status to the cloud-based gpi Tracker. From this moment the payment can be followed end to end, unlike an opaque legacy correspondent chain where the originator saw nothing after sending.

  3. 03Settlement
    Cover moves across the nostro relationshipBank Alfa (originator bank) → Meridian Bank (correspondent)

    gpi adds tracking on top of correspondent banking; it does not change how money moves. Meridian debits the USD nostro account Bank Alfa holds with it, providing cover for the onward payment in commercial bank money.

    No clearing house is involved — the correspondent's ledger is the settlement venue, in commercial bank money rather than central bank money.

    • DR Bank Alfa's USD nostro account at Meridian — USD 40,000.00
  4. 04Message
    Meridian forwards the MT103 to NordbankMeridian Bank (correspondent) → Nordbank (beneficiary bank) · MT103

    Meridian passes the payment instruction on to the beneficiary bank, Nordbank, with the ordering and beneficiary details intact and the same UETR carried through — the tracking key stays constant along the whole chain.

  5. 05Message
    Meridian updates the gpi TrackerMeridian Bank (correspondent) → gpi Tracker (Swift)

    As it processes the payment, Meridian posts its own status against the UETR to the Tracker, adding to a continuous status trail that Bank Alfa can see in near real time.

  6. 06Settlement
    Money moves from Meridian to NordbankMeridian Bank (correspondent) → Nordbank (beneficiary bank)

    Meridian settles with Nordbank across the accounts they hold between them, so the value is with the beneficiary bank before it credits its customer. This is the same correspondent settlement gpi leaves untouched.

    • CR Nordbank's USD account at Meridian (vostro) — USD 40,000.00
  7. 07Posting
    Nordbank credits the supplierNordbank (beneficiary bank)

    With funds confirmed and checks passed, Nordbank books the credit to the supplier's account — the point at which the beneficiary actually has the money.

    • CR Supplier's account at Nordbank — USD 40,000.00
  8. 08Message
    Nordbank confirms the credit on the TrackerNordbank (beneficiary bank) → gpi Tracker (Swift) · MT103

    Nordbank sends a gpi confirmation of credit against the UETR to the Tracker, closing the trail. Bank Alfa and Asha Traders can now see end-to-end status and proof that the supplier was paid — the transparency gpi is built to deliver.

What this simplifies: A single correspondent settles the payment and FX is omitted, so tracking is shown against one clean serial chain rather than a longer, multi-bank route.

LEARN THE CONCEPTS BEHIND THIS FLOW

Sources for this flow3
  1. Official requirement

    Swift gpi (global payments innovation) ↗ — Swift

    Describes Swift gpi, the cross-border payments service layer over the Swift network, including the end-to-end tracking it defines for member banks through the UETR (unique end-to-end transaction reference) and the Tracker. · Checked 2026-07-13

    Only public summaries are used here; the full service definition and rulebook sit behind a swift.com account.

  2. Market practice

    Correspondent banking (final report) ↗ — CPMI, Bank for International Settlements

    Defines correspondent banking arrangements, including nostro/vostro account relationships, and analyses the decline in correspondent relationships and its drivers. · Checked 2026-07-12

    Published in July 2016; its statistics cover 2011-2015 and are dated, but the definitions and arrangement types remain widely used.

  3. Simplified educational illustration

    Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal

    This site's own simplified teaching models. · Checked 2026-07-12

    What this simplifies: One correspondent and no FX conversion; real chains may add more banks, charges, and a currency exchange, and Tracker updates use structured status codes.

    Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.