The race to redefine cross-border finance
SWIFT enabled a surge in global payments over the decades. Now it faces threats from challengers—and is fighting back
IN 1977 A string of 12 characters ushered in a new age of global finance. Until then a bank wiring money abroad needed to relay up to ten instructions on public phone lines, which were then typed into forms, taking time and causing errors. Then payments began to be facilitated by a code and secure network created by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), a club of 500-odd banks. A surge in global trade and investment followed. More than $140trn has been transmitted across borders in the past year, equivalent to 152% of global GDP. Analysts reckon about 90% of that went through SWIFT. Its 11,000 members in 200 countries ping each other 42m times a day.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Message in a battle”
Finance & economics October 23rd 2021
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