Redundancies: SWIFT reacts to misleading information

La Hulpe, 17 September 2009 - Like most companies, SWIFT is feeling the impact of the financial crisis and the number of messages processed this year is lower than last year. Year-to-date message volumes are 2.5% below 2008 instead of anticipated growth of 9%, leaving a gap of 11.5%.

Last year, management decided to embark on a business process and cost optimisation programme to protect its future and ensure a financially sound basis for future growth.
Following the media reports on this matter yesterday, SWIFT would like to set out the facts:

• SWIFT has a target for cost savings by 2011. The objective is and always has been EUR 90 million. One-third (EUR 30 million) is being achieved through non-labour cost savings, for example travel, general office expenses, suppliers’ contracts, premises. The figure of EUR 120 million is incorrect.
• The overall cost saving cannot be achieved without reducing the number of employees. By 2011, SWIFT will need to have reduced the number of FTEs worldwide by 20 percent (Full Time Equivalents: i.e. full-time and part-time employees, contractors, temporary staff). It is doing this by a combination of measures including a hiring freeze, reduction in contract and temporary staff, early retirement programmes, natural turnover and redundancies. Given these different parameters, at this time SWIFT does not know the exact number of redundancies which will result.
• Claims that there will be 300 job losses in Belgium are untrue.
• Claims that SWIFT is trying to by-pass its legal obligations in Belgium (otherwise known as Loi Renault) are also untrue. This legislation only applies in specific circumstances, which are not relevant to the SWIFT situation.
• SWIFT will continue to work with the Works Council and trade unions to explore further alternatives to redundancies.
• Over the past five years, the bonus pools for all categories of staff have remained relatively constant except for senior management and executives, for whom the pools were reduced last year by more than 10 percent.

SWIFT has and will continue to work to maintain a constructive and open dialogue  with the Works Council and the trade unions.

Note to Editors:

About SWIFT
SWIFT is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect over 8,500 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in more than 200 countries. SWIFT enables its users to exchange automated, standardised financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs, reducing operational risk and eliminating operational inefficiencies. SWIFT also brings the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest.

For more information, please refer to our website www.swift.com or contact:
SWIFT
Euan Sellar
+32 2 655 3243
euan.sellar@swift.com