 
 
Ripple integration with Finastra opens access to 11,000 SWIFT-connected financial institutions. Finastra’s payments hub already serves more institutions and handles about $5 trillion in cross-border flows each day.
Routing RippleNet through that middleware would give Ripple an immediate, indirect pathway to a substantial share of SWIFT’s member banks.
Finastra operates a global payments service used by thousands of banks. Documents circulated publicly by industry researchers show its hub can route payments via SWIFT messaging or via alternative rails such as RippleNet.
SWIFT is testing public chains, including the XRP Ledger
SWIFT has not rejected blockchain outright. In 2025, SWIFT ran pilots that assessed public ledgers — including the XRP Ledger.
The tests examined whether tokenised settlement could speed transfers and improve data richness. Those pilots do not equate to endorsement, but they do show SWIFT is exploring interoperability with token rails. (SWIFT pilot reports, 2025).
 
The XRP Ledger settles payments in seconds and at very low cost — settlement times of roughly 3–5 seconds and micro-dollar fees per transfer are typical in ledger performance summaries.
By contrast, cross-border transfers via correspondent banking and SWIFT can take days and require pre-funding across multiple accounts.
Ripple’s CEO has positioned the ledger as a liquidity rail that can sit alongside existing messaging systems. In June 2025, Ripple executives reiterated that banks do not need to rip out SWIFT to use XRP for settlement; they can add it for liquidity on demand.
Governance and legal questions remain the gating factors
Banks do not adopt rails on speed alone. They adopt them where legal, compliance, and operational controls are clear.
SWIFT is a cooperative governed by its members. That governance model underpins trust and dispute resolution among 11,000 institutions.
Any material re-routing of bank liquidity to public token rails will need custodial models, settlement finality rules, and regulatory sign-offs acceptable to banks and supervisors.
SWIFT’s public statements emphasise that neutrality and a legal framework are prerequisites for large-scale change.
SWIFT’s network moves enormous volumes annually. Industry commentary supplies rough scenario math: even a small reroute of SWIFT flows to tokenised settlement could represent hundreds of billions, or more, in value running through on-chain rails.
Technically and practically, the plumbing is falling into place for Ripple to function as a bridge between token rails and legacy messaging infrastructures.
A Finastra integration gives Ripple a realistic path to tens of thousands of bank endpoints without forcing banks to abandon SWIFT.
SWIFT’s own pilots acknowledge blockchain’s promise but underscore that governance and legal enforceability are non-negotiable.
Source: https://zycrypto.com/ripples-xrp-could-become-swifts-bridge-to-blockchain-as-11000-banks-come-within-reach/
