May 25, 2013
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Description
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication provides a network that enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in a secure, standardized and reliable environment. SWIFT also markets software and services to financial institutions, much of it for use on the SWIFTNet Network, and ISO 9362 bank identifier codes are popularly known as "SWIFT codes".
The chairman of SWIFT is Yawar Shah, who is from Pakistan. The CEO is Gottfried Leibbrandt, who is from the Netherlands.
The majority of international interbank messages use the SWIFT network. As of September 2010, SWIFT linked more than 9,000 financial institutions in 209 countries and territories, who were exchanging an average of over 15 million messages per day. SWIFT transports financial messages in a highly secure way but does not hold accounts for its members and does not perform any form of clearing or settlement.
SWIFT does not facilitate funds transfer; rather, it sends payment orders, which must be settled by correspondent accounts that the institutions have with each other. Each financial institution, to exchange banking transactions, must have a banking relationship by either being a bank or affiliating itself with one so as to enjoy those particular business features.
(via Freebase)
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![Netanyahu praises SWIFT's sanctions against Iran [IBA, Israel]](/images/image_cache/base-1976000/1976472/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=0a80a3e6f8f7e22cfa24b0ad0f0230ea)