What is Swift?

Swift is a co-operative, run by and for its membership of banks, financial institutions and corporates. It is trusted to provide a secure and resilient network for high-value financial communication, and its members exchange millions of messages each day. As it is not for profit maximisation, Swift invests much of the money it does make back into the security of its network, which has helped it build and maintain a strong reputation for operational excellence and resilience.

How does a cross-border payment over Swift work?

In simple terms, when a customer makes an international payment through their app or bank platform, their bank will send a message over the Swift network to the recipient bank. The recipient bank then processes the payment and sends the money to the customer account – but exactly what the recipient bank does will depend on varying factors: where the money has come from and local regulations will all impact exactly what the bank does before crediting the customer’s account.

Today, 90% of payments sent over Swift reach the end bank within an hour. But checks for fraud and compliance, and local regulations, mean there are often delays before the money reaches the customer’s account.

Swift can be thought of like an airline. When you travel internationally, you rely on your airline to get you safely between airports. But other factors will determine how quickly you’re able to get to from the airport to your final destination.

How big is Swift?

Swift is made up of more than 11,500 members – banks, financial institutions, and large multinational corporate organisations. Its network covers more than 40,000 possible payment routes, and in 92% of the world’s countries and territories there are at least three institutions that are connected to its network.

While there are over 40,000 different possible routes for payments to be sent across Swift, 86% of messages are direct or involve just one intermediary. In 2024, more than 53 million payment messages were sent across the network – growth of more than 12% compared to the year before. To put that volume of messages into perspective, the Swift network transmits value equivalent to the world’s GDP roughly every three days. And just as we can track a parcel for something we’ve ordered online, the vast majority of payments sent over Swift can be tracked end to end.

How secure is Swift?

Swift was set up specifically so that the financial industry could securely send high-value payments internationally. As it is not for profit maximisation, much of the money it does make is reinvested into the security and resilience of its network, which has helped it build and maintain a strong reputation for operational excellence and resilience.

Swift’s strategy centres on continuing to provide a secure and resilient network. In 2024, its network had 99.999% uptime.

How is Swift governed?

Swift is headquartered in Belgium, and as such is subject to EU law. As a cooperative society, it is owned and controlled by its shareholders. The more an institution uses Swift, the more shares they are allocated. Its shareholders elect a Board composed of 25 directors, who are appointed at the company’s AGM.