City Bank has become the first bank globally to successfully validate and execute live transactions in both sending and receiving roles under Swift’s new retail cross-border payments framework, known as the “scheme”, the bank said in a press release on 3 August.
More than 50 major banks across 17 countries — including institutions in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Spain, Thailand, the UK, the Middle East and the US — have committed to adopting the framework, with City Bank the only Bangladeshi lender currently taking part. The bank joined the initiative in February 2026 and reached full project “go-live” readiness within five months.
Traditional cross-border payments and remittances have often faced delays and high costs due to multiple intermediary banking legs, varying global processing times and diverse regulatory requirements, with intermediary fees also reducing the final amount received by beneficiaries. Swift designed the new framework to address these barriers, aiming to give retail customers and small businesses fast, predictable and transparent international transfers.
The framework offers guaranteed full-value transfers without hidden intermediary deductions, upfront fee transparency, end-to-end traceability, faster settlement, predictable delivery times and 24/7 gateway availability, giving customers greater confidence that funds will reach beneficiaries quickly, transparently and in full.
City Bank completed its first transaction under the scheme in one minute on 22 June, with a subsequent transaction taking just 57 seconds. The following day, acting as a receiving bank, City Bank coordinated with HDFC India to clear and route an incoming payment from India to another local Bangladeshi bank.
Banks around the world have been progressively going live under the framework since June 2026, supporting the G20’s objectives of improving the speed, transparency, predictability and efficiency of cross-border payments while eliminating hidden intermediary charges.
City Bank’s achievement was recently recognised at an event on “Streamlining inward remittances and enhancing operational efficiency across Bangladesh’s financial sector”, jointly organised by Swift and the Association of Bankers Bangladesh.
During the ceremony, a crest was presented to Mashrur Arefin, Managing Director and CEO of City Bank, by Dr Md Habibur Rahman, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank, and Kiran Shetty, CEO and Regional Head, India and South Asia, Swift. Senior representatives from City Bank, including Mahia Juned, Additional Managing Director, COO and CAMLCO, and Mesbaul Asif Siddiqui, Deputy Managing Director and Head of Wholesale Banking, were also present, alongside Arpita Ghosh, Account Director – India and Country Manager – Bangladesh.
