27 September milestone completed

Final steps toward RMA migration

On 27 September 2008, SWIFT has successfully cutover to the Relationship Management Application (RMA). This is a very significant milestone in the migration to SWIFTNet Phase 2 that provides important benefits when compared to Bilateral Key Exchange. RMA is easier to manage and use, faster at setting up counterparty relationships, provides precise control over traffic, and reduces risk and operational costs.

Your existing bilateral keys are still valid and FIN interfaces can continue to send dual-signed messages with Message Authentication Code (MAC) trailers and PKI signatures. By 31 December 2008 however, we expect you to complete your RMA migration and to send messages with PKI signature only.

Changes you will see after 27 September 2008

• If you log in through your secure card reader by using ICC cards, or by using session keys generated on disk (protocol 1 or 2), you will receive the abort code "SS002".
• All new bilateral key messages (MT 96x) will be rejected by the SWIFT network.To establish new or to modify existing business relationships, you must use RMA.

What you need to do before 31 December 2008

As described in the RMA planning guide – section 5.4, you must now finalise your migration to RMA:

• Proceed with your RMA bootstrap process, and transfer your RMA traffic recording file into RMA authorisations.
• Instruct your SWIFTNet FIN interface to stop using the bilateral keys, and to stop sending dual-signed messages. This also stops the RMA traffic recording.

For more information, please consult the RMA documentation and the list of useful tips on the SWIFTNet Phase 2 page on swift.com.

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