Crypto-assets are changing the competitive landscape of payments industry, claims SWIFT’s Yawar Shah

The 2019 edition of Sibos, an annual banking and financial conference organized by SWIFT, saw Chairman Yawar Shah talk about crypto-assets and how they are changing the payments industry.

SWIFT is one of the most widely-used systems in the financial industry, with over 11,000 connected institutions operating in over 200 different countries and territories across the world.

During his speech, Shah added that the payments and securities industry is undergoing unprecedented change, with heightened business interest and increasing market valuations. He referred to new entrants such as Facebook’s Libra, claiming that they were changing the competitive landscape. He stated,

“It is a fantastic time to be a professional in the financial services arena. Cross border payments are still showing healthy growth. Cross border payment flows and revenues are mainly concentrated in the business-to-business segment. Payments have clearly outperformed other parts of the financial services industry. Not only is the growth and shareholder returns higher, so are the multiples.”

Going into further detail, the SWIFT Chairman said that though the industry is undergoing an extraordinary change with the emergence of crypto-assets, this change should not make the industry lose sight of the real work that needed to be done, which is to safeguard risk and compliance, ensure absolute integrity, and provide efficiencies. Those who ignore these fundamentals would do so at their own peril, he said.

Sibos is currently being held in London, U.K between 23 – 26 September.