More corporations are connecting to Swift for secure communication with their banking partners around the globe
Sibos, Osaka, 30 October 2012 – Swift, the financial messaging provider for more than 10,000 financial institutions and corporations in 212 countries and territories, announced today its corporate treasury user community has surpassed 1000 corporations.
There has been a sharp rise in the number of corporates in Asia-Pacific joining Swift, and this is the fastest growing region in terms of traffic. Samsung SDI, NTT Data Corporation, Toshiba and Rakuten are four of the corporations to have recently connected, in order to take advantage of Swift’s offering for corporates.
Swift provides a multi-bank platform for corporates to exchange financial information with banks through a secure, standardised, global, single window. This enables corporations to improve their global cash visibility and gain maximum efficiency from their financial and treasury operations, by rationalising bank channels, centralising payments and collections and achieving greater automation through standardisation.
With more than 1000 corporates already on Swift (comprising of more than 40,000 underlying legal entities), levels of corporate connectivity to Swift are growing in all regions. Another recent joiner is British Broadcasting Corporation.
An evolving picture, powered by collaboration
Corporates have been able to use Swift to interact with their financial institutions since 1998. Since 2005, with the introduction of a new simpler corporate access model, the number of corporations on Swift, from many industry sectors, has grown steadily.
Reflecting on the history of corporate connectivity to Swift, Hervé Postic, Directeur Général, CEO, UTSIT, comments: “The sustained growth rate of corporates joining Swift demonstrates how, over the years, the banking community has embraced the opportunity for corporates to join Swift more and more. The level of commitment shown by both Swift and by the banks points to a bright future for corporates to reach ever higher levels of operational efficiency in their interactions with their banks”.
Looking ahead, Hervé Postic continues: “The next ten years should be devoted to helping local banks in all regions of the world to offer cash and trade solutions over Swift to their corporate customers. Education and partnership will remain the key pillars needed to support further take-up of Swift by the corporate community.”
More functionality and easier connectivity
Swift continues to extend and enrich its offering for corporates, with key initiatives including treasury matching via the Accord platform, reference data services, the digital identity solution 3SKey, CGI and the collaborative standards management platform MyStandards. In addition, connecting to the Swift network has never been easier for corporates, with the recent launch of Alliance Lite2, a highly secure and reliable, easy to implement and cost-effective cloud-based connectivity solution that supports all types of Swift messages and files.
Gottfried Leibbrandt, CEO, Swift, says: “We are proud to have reached the significant milestone of 1000 corporates connected to Swift. We continue to evolve our offering for corporates, to ensure it brings value for the largest companies but also the smaller and mid-sized corporations that are increasingly benefiting from Swift to streamline their interactions with their banks. In line with our 2015 strategy, we look forward to welcoming many more corporates on to Swift in order to help them reduce their costs and risk, and increase operational efficiency and visibility in their treasury operations.”
Profile of Corporates on Swift
26 % of worldwide corporations with annual turnover greater than 10 Billion USD are connected to Swift.
EMEA has the highest proportion but corporates connecting to Swift in the Asia Pacific region are growing rapidly.
Corporates on Swift are split over various industry sectors.
About Sibos
Every year Sibos brings together influential leaders from financial institutions, market infrastructures, multinational corporations and technology partners to do business and shape the future of the financial industry. Facilitated and organised by Swift for the Swift community, Sibos is much more than a conference and exhibition. It is a unique forum to collaborate and take collective action in payments, securities, cash management and trade. With the power to draw some 7,000 participants from across the globe, Sibos is unparalleled in its reputation to reach the entire financial services industry.
About Swift
Swift is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 10,000 financial institutions and corporations in 212 countries and territories. 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:
Ernest Chan
Head of Media Relations, Asia Pacific, Swift
+852 2107 8873
ernest.chan@swift.com
Bite Communications
Rosemary Merz
+852 2973 0222
rosemary.merz@bitecommunications.com
