SWIFT

For other uses, see Swift (disambiguation).

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), legally known as S.W.I.F.T. SC, is a cooperative established in 1973 in Belgium (French: Société Coopérative) and is owned by the banks and other member firms that utilise its services. SWIFT provides the primary messaging network through which international payments are initiated. Additionally, it offers software and services to financial institutions, primarily for use on its proprietary "SWIFTNet". SWIFT also assigns ISO 9362 Business Identifier Codes (BICs), commonly referred to as "SWIFT codes".

S.W.I.F.T. SC

Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	3 May 1973 (1973-05-03)
Headquarters	La Hulpe, Belgium 50°44′04″N 4°28′43″E
Key people	Javier Perez-Tasso (CEO) Graeme Munro (Board Chair)
Products	Financial telecommunication
Number of employees	>3,000
Website	{{URL|example.com|optional display text}}

As of 2018, approximately half of all high-value cross-border payments globally utilised the SWIFT network. In 2015, SWIFT connected more than 11,000 financial institutions across over 200 countries and territories, facilitating the exchange of an average of more than 3.2 crore messages per day, compared to an average of 24 lakh daily messages in 1995.

SWIFT is headquartered in La Hulpe, near Brussels. It organises an annual conference known as Sibos, which is specifically targeted at the financial services industry.

History

Before the establishment of SWIFT, international financial transactions were communicated via Telex, a public system that required manual writing and reading of messages. SWIFT was created out of concern regarding the potential consequences of a single private and entirely American entity controlling global financial flows—specifically, First National City Bank (FNCB) of New York, which later became Citibank. In response to FNCB's protocol, its competitors in the United States and Europe advocated for an alternative "messaging system that could replace the public providers and expedite the payment process."

SWIFT was founded in Brussels on 3 May 1973 (INC: 13 Saura Baiśākha 1895). Key individuals involved in its creation included bankers Jan Kraa from AMRO Bank and François Dentz from the Banque de l'Union Parisienne, along with Carl Reuterskiöld and Bessel Kok, who became the first two chairmen and chief executives, respectively. Initially, SWIFT was supported by 239 banks across 15 countries. It quickly began establishing common standards for financial transactions and a shared data processing system, complemented by a worldwide communications network designed by Logica and developed by the Burroughs Corporation. Fundamental operating procedures and rules for liability were established in 1975, and the first message was ceremonially sent by Prince Albert of Belgium on 9 May 1977 (19 Saura Baiśākha 1899).