Who we are

While we facilitate the transfer of value across the globe, we don’t actually move money. At our core, we’re a secure messaging system that helps financial institutions send payment instructions. The actual transfer of funds happen through banks, fintechs, and other institutions.

Swift is not a bank, but our community is made up of thousands of banks, fintechs,  financial institutions and corporates. We’re a globally neutral cooperative with over 11,500 members and relied on to provide a secure network for cross-border messaging.

Data from our network shows that 90% of cross-border payments now reach the beneficiary bank in under an hour.

This is already well ahead of the target set by the G20 to achieve one-hour end-to-end processing for 75% of cross-border payments by 2027. 

However, our data also revealed that delays often occur between a payment arriving at the end bank, and before it is credited to the customer’s account, in what is called the  beneficiary leg. We’ll keep working with the financial community to identify and address these remaining frictions in support of the G20 objectives.

Swift is headquartered in Belgium, and as such is subject to EU law. We’re a globally inclusive organisation that serves institutions and individuals all over the world. Across 40,000 active payment routes, our network is able to move value across the four corners of the earth.

Thanks to our strong global governance, the decisions we make always reflect our shared interests and support our vision for a brighter financial future.

No. While we first set out to enable financial institutions to make high-value international transfers, today our network can support payments of all sizes. Collaborative work with our community has enabled institutions to offer their customers a quick, easy and predictable service— whether an individual sending wages back home or a small business buying supplies overseas.

86% of all payments on Swift are conducted directly or with a single intermediary. Some payments travelling over our network do require intermediaries, but because of automated technology, this rarely adds much in terms of processing time.

We support all major global currencies, including USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CNY, CHF, AUD, CAD, HKD and SGD.

In recent years technology’s pace of change has rapidly increased, leading to the development of new forms of value like digital currencies and assets. We’ve successfully demonstrated that the Swift network can facilitate interconnectivity between different types of digital assets, and between digital assets and fiat currencies. We’re agnostic to currency or forms of value, and are continuing to innovate to ensure our global community can continue to rely on the secure Swift infrastructure to transact with one another, today and in the future.

The network of choice for large corporates around the globe, the world's GDP passes over Swift roughly every three days.

Yes. We process payments and securities transactions too.