Put SWIFT gpi (tracked correspondent payment) back in order

THE DRILL AS TEXT

1. In SWIFT gpi (tracked correspondent payment), what happens first, and what follows?
   • Bank Alfa sends the MT103 carrying a UETR — 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.
   • Bank Alfa opens the trail on the gpi Tracker — 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.
   • Cover moves across the nostro relationship — 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.
   • Meridian forwards the MT103 to Nordbank — 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.
   • Meridian updates the gpi Tracker — 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.
   • Money moves from Meridian to Nordbank — 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.