Corporate Matters
Swift By-laws, Corporate Rules, User Categories, Membership Validation Process. Information for Vendors, Customers and interested parties.
Corporate Matters
Swift By-laws
The Swift By-laws define the object of the company and contain the fundamental rules on the admission of shareholders, shareholding, the election and functioning of the Board of Directors, and holding of General Meetings.
Swift Corporate Rules
The Swift Corporate Rules define the eligibility criteria for the different Swift User categories, the admission and termination processes, and compliance with the eligibility criteria and conditions for admission.
Swift User Categories
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Swift user categories
- Supervised Financial Institution - This user category also includes shareholders.
- Non-Supervised Entity active in the financial industry
- Closed User Groups and Corporate entities - Corporate, Financial Market Regulator, Payment System Participant, Securities Market Data Provider, Securities Market Infrastructure System Participant, Service Participant within Member Administered Closed User Group and Treasury Counterparty.
The eligibility criteria are described in the Corporate Rules and here.
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Swift user categories usage rights
- The Supervised Financial Institution can send/receive all types of messages.
- The Non-Supervised Entity active in the financial industry can send all types of messages to Supervised Financial Institutions but cannot send/receive payment messages to/from other Non-Supervised Entities.
- Closed User Groups (CUG): the administrator of the CUG defines the message types that can be sent/received.
- Corporates: criteria are defined in the FIN and Solutions matrix.
Further details can be found in the appropriate service descriptions.
Shareholding eligibility: Type of organisations eligible for shareholding
An eligible organisation holding a share in S.W.I.F.T. SC, including banks, eligible securities broker-dealers and regulated investment management institutions. Details about Swift shareholding can be found in the Swift By-laws.
A Non-Shareholding Member is an organisation which complies with the eligibility criteria of a Shareholder (Member), and which has either chosen not to or is prevented from becoming a Shareholder.
A Sub-member is an organisation more than 50 percent directly or 100 percent indirectly owned by a shareholder and which meets the criteria set forth for shareholder. A Sub-member must be under full management control of the shareholder.
More information
Access to Swift services and products is defined in the respective Service Descriptions. Make sure to always consult the latest versions. Please contact the nearest Swift office for information about the application process.
Swift Usership Validation Process
Summary description of Swift's validation process "Know Your Customer" put in place for the admission of new Swift Users and continued compliance of existing Users with the conditions admission.
Swift Membership Validation Process - Table of content
- Governing principles of admission as a Swift User
- Compliance with eligibility criteria by Swift User
- Responsibility for the approval and admission process
- Customer responsibility for the KYC process
Information about Swift for Procurement and Compliance Departments
Swift users and other third parties have legitimate requests for information to satisfy their various compliance obligations, including enquiries about Swift’s reliability, confidentiality, information security and the professional conduct of Swift’s employees and staff.
We do our utmost to address these concerns by making relevant information available to our users. However, due to the large number of Swift users around the world, we are unable to respond to individual requests for customised vendor packages, agreements, certifications and/or questionnaires. Swift does not engage in individual commitments, or provide individual certifications, representations or legal statements.
As a service provider to a broad community of customers, it is our policy to treat all customers equally and not to engage in customised or “one-off” agreements or arrangements. Indeed, Swift provides its services and products to users around the world on the basis of a common contractual framework, using the standard contractual documentation that has been formulated in consultation with Swift’s users.
For the above reasons, we have prepared this informational document based on the most common questions and KYC requests we regularly receive from Swift users. It is reviewed on a regular basis and updated as applicable.
We trust that this will be helpful and provide you with sufficient assurances across a range of issues. Should you have additional questions, please contact your account manager or the Swift sales desk, taking into account the above principles.