SWIFT Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication

The SWIFT system was established in 1973, when 239 banks from 15 countries in Europe and North America established the S.W.I.F.T. (Community of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) community. The purpose of creating financial telecommunications is to transfer data between financial institutions (banks).

SWIFT is an international organization in the field of financial telecommunications that provides prompt, safe and absolutely reliable transmission of financial messages (including money transfers) through its unique system, which is the largest global information transmission network. The system provides its members with special software for working on the network.

More than 10,500 largest banks and financial institutions from 215 countries are united in the community. In addition to the largest banks, participants in the SWIFT system are: brokerage firms, securities companies, exchanges, central depositories. The Russian National Association SWIFT (ROSSVIFT) has been created in Russia.

SWIFT sends payment orders daily with a total estimated value of more than $6 trillion. Every year, SWIFT sends about 1.8 billion messages about making payments.

When disputes arise between banks, SWIFT can act as an arbitrator, for which it keeps all messages about payments in its own archive for 124 days.

More than 600 Russian banks were connected to SWIFT. In terms of the number of SWIFT users, Russia ranks 2nd after the United States (although it is inferior to many countries in terms of the volume of messages transmitted).

For the transmission of each international message through SWIFT, the bank pays 17.66 euro cents. Within Russia (between Russian banks), the cost of communication is 5.27 euro cents.

Although SWIFT is headquartered in Belgium, after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the CIA and the US Treasury were able to gain access to its data in order to monitor possible financial transactions of terrorists.

Credit and financial institutions in the Russian Federation are integrated into various world systems for the exchange of financial information and the provision of information and reference services in the banking sector and in the financial markets, such as SWIFT, the Russian National Swift Association (Rossvift), Bloomberg, Reuters, Target, etc. At the same time, according to Rossvift, in terms of the number of SWIFT users, the Russian Federation ranks second in the world after the United States.

TARGET allows real-time international settlements within the European Union, whose corresponding members are some credit institutions in Russia.

See also:

• Information security in banks

2023

Euro share in international settlements via SWIFT halves for the year

By the end of 2023, the share euro in international settlements through the SWIFT interbank system decreased to 22.41% from 36.34% a year earlier. Such data were published on the SWIFT website in January 2024.

As Frank Media notes, referring to SWIFT materials, the share of euros in international settlements in 2023 decreased in every month except September. The strongest rise among international currencies occurred in the yuan. Starting 2023 with a share of 1.91%, the yuan ended it with a share of 4.14%. Compared to December 2022, the share of the yuan increased by almost 2 percentage points. Nevertheless, the December result was slightly lower than a month earlier (in November, the share of the yuan was a record - 4.61%).

The most popular currency in the system remains the American dollar. Its share in international settlements through SWIFT in December 2023 reached 47.54% against 40.1% at the beginning of the same year. The share of sterling in comparison of these segments of time rose from 6.57% to 6.92%, the Japanese yen - from 3.15% to 3.83%.

The peak of the euro's popularity in international settlements within SWIFT came at the turn of the 2000s and 2010s. In 2012, the EU single currency secured up to 45% of transactions against less than 30% of the dollar. However, the European debt crisis shook these positions, and by the mid-2010s the euro already occupied 30% of settlements or even less. Since then, with the exception of a short segment in 2021, the dollar has confidently led in the volume of transactions on SWIFT.

According to Evgeny Kalyanov, an expert on the stock market at BCS World of Investments, the decrease in the share of the euro in SWIFT in 2023 is associated with a drop in European trade settlements with Russia and a further reduction in the use of the European currency in settlements. For other participants in international currency settlements, the euro may not be more attractive than the dollar, since the EU, like the United States, applies its national currency in the form of political leverage of geopolitical pressure, Kalyanov said.^[1]

Yuan beats euro for first time in global trade via SWIFT

At the end of September 2023, the yuan was ahead of the euro for the first time and became the second most popular currency in world trade through SWIFT. Such figures were announced by the international payment system on October 18, 2023.

According to TASS, citing SWIFT materials, the share of the yuan in international settlements in September 2023 increased to 5.8% (the highest figure in five years) from 4.82% a month earlier. The euro figure during this time decreased from 6.43% to 5.43%. The dollar retained first place with a result of 84.15% in the first autumn month of 2023.

Yuan beats euro for first time to become second most popular currency in global trade via SWIFT

The euro is followed by the Japanese yen, whose share rose from 1.28% in August 2023 to 1.4% a month later, and the Saudi rial with a share of 0.56% in September against 0.63% in August.

As RIA Novosti reminds, along with SWIFT, Russia, China and India have already created their alternatives for transmitting financial messages. According to the Minister of Economic Development of Russia Maxim Reshetnikov, the share of the dollar in the country's international settlements, which amounted to about 50% two years ago, has tripled over the past time. He spoke about this in October 2023.

As Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Pankin reported earlier, the use of the dollar in mutual settlements of the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) by August 2023 decreased to 21% of the total volume of operations. The share of payments in national currencies between the EAEU countries reached about 75% at the same time.

From October 1, 2023, Russian banks were banned from using SWIFT to transfer financial information when transferring funds in the country. The Central Bank ordered credit institutions to use the Financial Messaging System (SPFS).^[2]

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation decided to open foreign banks access to the digital ruble to bypass the SWIFT system

In October 2023, it became known about the decision of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation to open foreign banks access to the digital ruble to bypass the SWIFT system. The document comes into force on January 1, 2023. Read more here.

CBR: "Integration of national digital currencies can really replace SWIFT"

The Bank of Russia intends to test the digital ruble on real customers in 2023, which will bring closer the emergence of a replacement for SWIFT, the international interbank system for transferring information and making payments. This was announced on July 6, 2023 by the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank Olga Skorobogatova. Read more here.

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation banned banks from using SWIFT when transferring within Russia from October 1

From October 1, 2023, Russian banks must use only domestic services for transmitting messages within the country. SWIFT is only valid for international transactions.

Start of system for CBDC exchange between central banks

The SWIFT banking payment system in March 2023 began working on the CBDC digital currency exchange system between Central Banks. The system should make cross-border payments faster, cheaper, and help avoid possible fragmentation of the global economy.

2022

The share of the dollar in payments through SWIFT more than 40%, euro - more than 30%

US share in global economy and dollar share in international finance, as of January 2023

As of May 2023

Rostec presented a blockchain platform that can replace SWIFT

In early June 2022, Rostec presented a blockchain platform, which, according to the state corporation, could replace SWIFT. We are talking about the CELLS system created by the Novosibirsk Institute of Software Systems (NIPS; included in the Avtomatika concern of Rostec). Read more here.

Disconnection of Sberbank from SWIFT

At the end of May 2022, the countries European Union agreed to disconnect Sberbank from the interbank system for transferring information and making payments SWIFT within the framework of the sixth package of sanctions. More. here

Launch technology to connect SWIFT to bank cloud environments

On April 28, 2022, Google introduced a reference architecture designed to help financial institutions implement SWIFT technology on the Google Cloud cloud platform. Read more here.

Increase in the time of transfer of funds in Russian banks

Clients of Russian banks faced difficulties in making international money transfers through the SWIFT system. The timing of operations has increased, the number of refusals has increased due to increased control over Russian users by receiving foreign banks.

As a result, the terms of transfers increased by five to ten days, although earlier they took place in one to two days.

Disconnection of several banks in Russia from SWIFT against the background of a special operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine

In early March 2022 European Union , he disconnected from SWIFT,, banks VTB,, "Russia", and in "Opening" Novikombank Promsvyazbank Sovcombank response ВЭБ.РФ to the start of a special operation of the Russian Federation. The relevant information is published in the official EU journal.

The decision concerns organizations that directly or indirectly belong to more than 50% of these banks. This decision was made "due to the seriousness of the situation and in response to Russia's military aggression against Ukraine," the EU document says.

The EU disconnected from SWIFT banks VTB, Russia, Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank and Vnesheconombank

VTB claims that disconnection from SWIFT will not affect customer service at all. By the beginning of March 2022, 11 thousand financial organizations were connected to the system in Russia. Russia also has its own system for exchanging financial messages - about 400 organizations are connected to it.

A representative of Promsvyazbank told Vedomosti that the bank "maintains uninterrupted operation and service of its clients, the new sanctions will not have a significant impact on the bank's activities."

As Maxim Shein, head of the investment strategies department of BCS World of Investments, noted on March 1, 2022, disconnecting banks from SWIFT may lead to the impossibility of Russian companies to pay on external debt, which will immediately hit the balance sheets of European credit institutions. As a result, EU companies may face a shortage of necessary goods and services.

Russian banks can use the Financial Messaging System (SPFS) to transmit information within the country, and they have other channels for transmitting data abroad, including their own, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation said.

Earlier, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that the degree of disconnection of Russia from SWIFT has been carefully verified in order to inflict maximum damage on the financial system of the Russian Federation in connection with Russia's special operation.^[3]

2021

The euro share approached the dollar share in settlements through SWIFT

Report on the results of the implementation of the strategy for the transition to instant seamless transactions

SWIFT notes significant progress in implementing its strategy of providing instant and seamless account-to-account transactions anywhere in the world introduced a year ago. As part of the strategy, SWIFT has fulfilled a number of commitments, including increasing the speed and transparency of small-amount payments, minimizing delays by pre-confirming payments and providing banks with tools to quickly obtain extensive data in a multi-format environment. This became known on December 21, 2021. SWIFT has also been heavily engaged in experiments to integrate into cross-border digital currency flows of central banks (CBDCs) and new digital assets, and to test the concept to ensure the interconnection of market infrastructure in real time.

The solutions that SWIFT brought to the market in 2021 are a significant contribution to the transformation of global finance. The implementation of the strategy is already underway and will accelerate in 2022 and later. Services available to the industry now include:

• Fast, affordable cross-border transfers of low value. Launched in July 2021, SWIFT Go makes it easier for consumers and small businesses to send cross-border transfers for small amounts. SWIFT Go allows banks to send transfers to end users quickly, predictably and securely, and receive information about the time and cost of processing them in advance. The service is rapidly gaining popularity: more than 120 leading world banks have already joined it.
• Seamless translations with a minimum of delays. The Payment Pre-validation service eliminates one of the main reasons for their suspension or delay in international transfers - incorrect information about the recipient of the payment. The service allows banks to check the recipient's account data before sending a payment and identify typos and errors in account numbers in advance.
• Improve end-user service with extensive data. The launch of the In-Flow Translation service for financial messages will facilitate the migration of banks from the MT standard to ISO 20022 in 2022. Stream translation is a key factor in the gradual transition to the extensive data standard. It allows the industry to maintain uninterrupted operation of systems and enables financial institutions to switch to this standard at their pace during the migration period until November 2025.

These changes are based on the dynamic development of SWIFT: in 2021, network traffic showed double-digit growth, and in November 50.3 million messages a day passed through it. Thanks to SWIFT gpi rails and work to increase the speed and predictability of cross-border transfers, in recent years most payment instructions pass in seconds, with nearly half credited to recipients within 5 minutes and nearly two-thirds within 30 minutes of data checks, currency controls and other criteria applicable to all international transactions. Most other transfers reach recipients on the day they are sent.

In 2021, SWIFT identified priorities in other innovative areas:

• Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). SWIFT is exploring the interoperability of its revamped platform and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for cross-border operations and sees the interoperability of different payment systems as key to success.
• Interoperability of market infrastructure. Ensuring instant cross-border payments depends on the interaction of market infrastructure and financial institutions in real time. This interaction will enable accelerated and seamless transactions around the world. In October, SWIFT, in conjunction with the EBA Clearing network and The Clearing House (TCH) association, demonstrated the ability to synchronize settlements in existing instant payment systems at a rate that meets CPMI Bank's Payments and Market Infrastructures Committee standards.
• Flexible innovation. SWIFT accelerates the implementation of changes in the financial market. In 2021, many innovative sprints were held to quickly explore areas in demand by users. For example, SWIFT's innovation team is exploring areas such as artificial intelligence/machine learning to develop new features and services.

In 2022, SWIFT expects to accelerate the implementation of its new services for the global financial community. SWIFT Go will become the basis for cross-border payments for small amounts. In the first half of 2022, the next iteration of the Payment Pre-validation service will appear. Sophisticated predictive analytics techniques will be used to increase data coverage and accuracy.

SWIFT will begin implementing an improved platform that takes SWIFT's capabilities beyond exclusively messaging. The platform will ensure complete transaction management by organizing interaction between financial institutions and other market participants to reduce barriers, optimize speed and ensure transparency and predictability of operations. Faster settlement, expanded end-to-end data, and additional platform services will provide instant and seamless service in SWIFT, a network of 4 billion accounts in more than 200 countries. 2022 will be the starting point for changes, and in 2023 and after, traffic is expected to increase on the new platform.

Launch of streaming service for cross-border payments as part of ISO 20022 testing

On December 15, 2021, SWIFT announced the launch of the In Flow Translation financial messaging service, which is a fully compliant ISO 20022 industry standard test environment for cross-border payments. Read more here.

100 banks join SWIFT Go cross-border payment service

On October 19, 2021, SWIFT announced the connection of 100 banks from around the world to SWIFT Go, a service for making fast, predictable and safe cross-border payments for small amounts from bank accounts at competitive rates for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as consumers. The rapid pace of bank connection since the launch of the service in July 2021 is confirmed by its demand and demand from financial institutions. As of October 2021, ten banks, including China Minsheng Bank, Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase, offer to use the service to their customers, who annually make 41 million cross-border payments for small amounts. In Russia, the first bank to make payments using SWIFT Go available to customers was Sberbank.

SWIFT Go is a key element of SWIFT's strategy to deliver instant and seamless transactions through the cooperative's network, which brings together more than 11,000 members and 4 billion accounts across 200 countries. SWIFT Go has the potential to support small and medium-sized businesses in emerging markets and expand access to financial instruments. The service also makes international payments more affordable for consumers.

The service uses SWIFT gpi high-speed payment rails, which have improved the speed and predictability of cross-border payments for large amounts. This allowed banks to improve the quality of service for SMEs and consumers - fast-growing segments of the banking business. With SWIFT Gobfast and predictable cross-border payments with transparent information about fees are made in seconds.

Шаблон:Quote 'author = said Stephen Gilderdale, Executive Committee Member, SWIFT Product Director.

According to our data, the cost of remittances in the United States using SWIFT Go is 30% lower compared to traditional channels. Minsheng Bankgots to launch SWIFT Go for all customers, which will improve the service of SMEs and consumers. We also support the plans of other banks to join SWIFT Go to expand the number of participants and develop the network of cross-border payments of the future, noted Dr. Xu Jie, Deputy Head of Transaction Banking at China Minsheng Bank and Deputy Chairman of the Banking Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce of China.

We are well aware that SMEs and consumers value transparency, speed and security when making international payments. We are pleased to start using SWIFT Go and offer it to our customers, which will significantly improve the process of making cross-border transactions for small amounts, added Mark Reker, global head of products and institutional cash management, Deutsche Bank.

We are excited to join SWIFT Go, which will help implement our strategy to ensure a higher level of quality when making payments. Our customers - owners of small and medium-sized businesses, as well as consumers - will appreciate this service, with the help of which they will be able to make seamless, fast and predictable cross-border payments for small amounts. narrated by Shirish Vadivkar, global head of payments at Standard Chartered.

SWIFT Go takes advantage of SWIFT gpi with a more accurate tiered service and a unified reporting system, which significantly improves customer experience when making end-to-end payments, reduces barriers and allows banks to more efficiently make cross-border payments for small amounts for retail customers and small and medium-sized businesses. commented George Doolittle, managing director and head of global payment services at Wells Fargo.

API Potential Report

On October 13, 2021, SWIFT in Russia shared the results of a report that examines the potential of APIs and their role for the development of international finance, and provides detailed information on how SWIFT uses APIs as part of its strategy to ensure instant transactions anywhere in the world. Read more here.

EU admits impossibility of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT

On April 29, 2021, it became known that the European Union recognized the impossibility of influencing the international private organization SWIFT and forcing it to turn off Russia, said the head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell at a planar meeting.

"SWIFT is an international private organization, in this sense, the European Union does not have the competence of<…> Nord Stream 2 - this is a controversial topic. The EC has already said that this project does not serve to diversify EU energy sources. But this is the responsibility of private companies, the EU does not have the tools to make a decision on the fate of this private project, "he said.

According to him, a long period of confrontation has been outlined in relations between the EU and Russia, for which Europe should be ready.

"Russia is confident that confrontation with Europe and the United States is the easiest way to strengthen the legitimacy of power," he added.

The head of European diplomacy noted that Russia has military power, which it regularly demonstrates, but from an economic point of view it has no force.

Earlier Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov he said that Russia already has a base for creating analogue of the international interbank system for transferring information and making payments SWIFT.^[4]

2020

Launch SWIFT gpi Instant

In early December 2020, SWIFT launched instant cross-border payments. The gpi Instant service has been launched, which allows consumers and companies to make money transfers abroad, transferring money in seconds. The first among the banks to connect to this system was the British Lloyds Bank. Read more here.

Euro outperforms dollar on cross-border transfers for first time since 2013

In October 2020 euro , it became the most popular currency for cross-border transfers, overtaking this indicator for the American dollar first time since February 2013.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Channels (SWIFT), which processes global remittances for more than 11,000 financial institutions in 200 countries, reported that the single currency of the European Union and the US dollar are followed by the British pound and the Japanese yen. At the same time, the Canadian dollar overtook the Chinese yuan and took fifth place.

According to SWIFT, in October 2020, 37.82% of money transfers in the payment system were made in euros, which is 6% higher than the end of 2019. The share of cross-border transfers in dollars in October reached 37.64%, which is 4.6% less than the figure recorded in December 2019. The use of the dollar for transfers to SWIFT reached its maximum level in April 2015 - 45.3%. SWIFT data showed that the share of transfers using the British pound, Japanese yen and Canadian dollar in October 2020 was 12.25%.

Euro beats US dollar in international payments for first time since 2013

The share of the Chinese yuan fell to 1.66%, its worst performance since April 2020. In October 2010, when SWIFT first began tracking the activity of using world currencies in cross-border payments, the Chinese currency ranked 35th. In 2014, the yuan entered the top six, since then the share of use of this currency worldwide has averaged just under 2%.

The decline in the share of the dollar is caused by a slowdown in global trade due COVID-19 to, as well as recession and political instability. According to the Bank for International Settlements in the July 2020 report, the dollar continues to be the main currency for placing bonds and attracting cross-border loans.^[5]

BCS Bank has connected a system for tracking currency payments in real time - SWIFT GPI

BCS Bank on July 17, 2020 provided business with the opportunity to instantly learn about the state of international transfers. The bank has connected a system for tracking currency payments in real time - SWIFT GPI. Read more here.

China prepares for US sanctions to disconnect from SWIFT

The Chinese authorities must prepare for a possible disconnection from the dollar payment system in the event of Washington sanctions. This was announced in June 2020 by the Deputy Chairman of the Securities Control Committee of the People's Republic of China Fan Xingai.

We are talking about China's dollar settlements when using the Interbank Information Transfer and Payment System SWIFT (Swift) and the CHIPS Interbank Electronic Clearing Settlement System (Chips).

"We have to prepare [for the shutdown] in advance, for real, not just psychologically." According to Fan Xingai, dependence on systems in dollar settlements makes the PRC vulnerable to potential Washington sanctions.

Fan Xingai also noted that in the future there is a possibility of depreciation of the American currency, which can also negatively affect, China since the PRC has about 2 trillion dollars US dollars in the form of non-financial investments abroad. "The internationalization of the yuan is something that would have to compensate for external financial pressures," he added.

2019

Disconnecting Iran's banking sector from SWIFT

In 2018-2019. there was a rupture of the nuclear deal at the initiative of the United States and the tightening of UN sanctions against Iran:

• ban on the purchase of Iranian oil,
• ban on transactions with the Central Bank of Iran and blocking reserves,
• a ban on the supply of a number of metals, coal and industrial equipment to Iran,
• disconnecting the banking sector from SWIFT.

Launch Instant Global Payment Delivery Service

On November 13, 2019, it became known that SWIFT launched a service to deliver instant global payments by integrating gpi - a technology for making cross-border payments in real time - into internal instant payment systems around the world.

With gpi technology and real-time internal payment systems, SWIFT and gpi-connected banks will complement cross-border payments with the ability to prepay fees and transparency of foreign exchange transactions, thereby making instant cross-border payments available and common around the world.

These major improvements will increase the speed and transparency of gpi in domestic markets, which will allow banks to use their existing investments to improve the quality of service to their customers. The integration of gpi through banks into internal rapid payment systems allows the use of existing cross-border and payment infrastructure within the country, thereby minimizing the costs and complexities associated with infrastructure implementation.

The service will be available for all types of end customers of banks - from large international companies to small and medium-sized businesses, from traditional retail to Internet platforms. All of them will receive speed, transparency of commissions and most importantly - understanding when exactly the payment will be credited to the final recipient's account.

Global testing with internal systems running in real time demonstrated SWIFT's ability to make cross-border payments via gpi in just a few seconds:

• In a successful test with the Payment Platform (NPP) Australia , the payment between Australia and passed China in 18 seconds.
• A joint test with Singapore's domestic instant payment system Fast And Secure Transfers (FAST) involved 17 banks in seven countries, with the fastest payment taking just 13 seconds and payments between all continents completed within 25 seconds.
• In Europe, a test between the European Central Bank, SWIFT and a group of 19 banks using the Target Instant Payments Settlement (TIPS) platform was recently completed. During the experiment, tests were carried out with 12 banks that sent international payments from 9 countries (Australia, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Thailand and the USA) to 5 European banks. The payment, sent from Singapore and conducted through Germany, was credited to the final recipient's account 41 seconds after being sent. Further progress is expected as global instant service is rolled out.

In SWIFT, we are creating a future where cross-border payments are as convenient as domestic payments. It's time for the entire community to come together to seize this opportunity and create a global payment service that operates in real time. We will discuss with all testing participants how to switch to active operation of the service, and we will invite all internal payment systems operating in real time to join this project. Proven technology already exists, and now the possibility of cross-border payments becoming as fast as domestic payments is real, said Harry Newman, Head of Banking[6] payments

Russian banks joined the payment control service from SWIFT

On November 7, 2019, it became known that the interbank SWIFT system introduced a payment control service to combat fraudsters, 200 users around the world, including companies from Russia, joined this service as of November 2019, said SWIFT Director for Central and Eastern Europe Matvey Goering.

The third example of services is everything related to antifrod. The corresponding solution, the payment control service, has been successfully implemented, in six months - more than 200 users around the world. It allows you to check messages, identify atypical characteristics, and soon this system will apply not only to financial messages. There are Russian users of this system. We work closely with the Rossvift Association and the Central Bank. The regulator itself then contacts banks, reports that they have not fulfilled certain security requirements for CSP, User Security Program, reported by Goering

Russian users are actively using the SWIFT system, Goring emphasized: traffic in Russia has been constantly growing over the past 10 - 20 years. Most of the messages sent by Russian users are payment. There are also messages related to securities, Treasury operations and trade finance.

{{quote 'author = noted^[7].|We do not give exact proportions, this is the company's policy, but in Russia most of the messages are in-country, they account for more than half of all messages. The order of magnitude is the same as in general throughout SWIFT, that is, slightly less than 10%. This is the data as of September 2019, }}

NSD began providing gpi service from SWIFT

On September 25, 2019, the National Settlement Depository (NSD) announced that it had begun providing SWIFT gpi (global payment innovation) payment services. The first transaction took place in late September 2019. Read more here.

Rostelecom will launch an analogue of SWIFT for business payments

On September 25, 2019, it became known that Rostelecom would develop a system for exchanging information about payments between companies in the non-financial sector. This will be an analogue of the international interbank system SWIFT.

According to Izvestia, Rostelecom does not intend to launch this business from scratch: it is planned to create a joint venture with the current provider of such a service, the Treasury Systems organization. The CEO of the latter, Alexander Grishin, confirmed this data.

Rostelecom will develop a system for the exchange of information about payments between companies in the non-financial sector

He clarified that the purchase of a stake in his company is not being considered, we are talking about the creation of a joint venture. Treasury Systems has already agreed to provide its services based on Rostelecom equipment, Grishin said.

The operator did not respond to Izvestia's request to comment on a possible deal. A source close to Rostelecom confirmed that Treasury Systems will rent data centers of state-owned companies, and in the future they plan to promote their decision to the operator's corporate clients on an agency basis. However, there are no specific agreements yet, the source said.

The possibility of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT has been discussed since 2014, when the first anti-Russian sanctions were introduced in connection with the situation in Ukraine. Then the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which, in particular, called for the exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT international settlement system. However, SWIFT found such recommendations to be infringing and damaging to the company.

By the end of September 2019, SWIFT, CyberFT and the Bank of Russia Financial Messaging System were the main players in the financial information exchange market in Russia. The first option may become inaccessible due to sanctions, in addition, it is quite expensive.^[8]

SWIFT launches gpi service for corporations

SWIFT announced in July 2019 the expansion of gpi technology and launches the SWIFT gpi service for corporations, which will allow multi-bank companies to directly make payments and track transactions through their payment systems at all partner banks. More than 50 of the world's largest companies, including LVMH, Microsoft and Petronas, have already joined the service.

Pilot projects were successfully launched in 22 corporations, including Airbus, Booking.com, General Electric, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, J. P. Morgan, Societe Generale and Standard Chartered Bank. In collaboration with them, SWIFT managed to develop a standard consistent with business practice and test the functionality of the service in the treasury systems of companies. Corporations already have the opportunity to check the status of gpi payments individually on the portal of each partner bank, while the SWIFT gpi service for corporations takes into account the needs of multi-bank corporations, providing a single centralized and standardized interface for all banking partners. The service allows corporations to track payments in real time, facilitating more accurate execution and preventing costly and time-consuming investigations.

With SWIFT gpi for corporations, banks give users control over all financial flows and full transparency about tariffs and exchange rates so that corporations can identify the most efficient ways to make financial transfers around the world. In addition, this eliminates the need for corporations to adapt their systems for each individual bank with which they work.

When creating the service, SWIFT collaborated with banks and corporations, as well as leading financial software providers, including Billing, FIS, Kyriba and SAP, which integrated the SWIFT gpi service for corporations into their applications.

SWIFT to test payment standard with Corda R3-based PoC validation algorithm

On February 1, 2019, it became known that the SWIFT global interbank network will test the payment standard using algorithm proof-of-concept (PoC) verification based on the platform, which blockchain-R3 Corda will also monitor payment channels, support API and other standards. This was stated by SWIFT CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt.

SWIFT provided more details about its plans. In order to combine its network with blockchain, the payment system will launch a separate gateway called gpi Link, designed to connect third-party e-commerce channels and any marketplaces directly to gpi.

Within the framework of the project, corporate users will be able to use the gpi Link interface to authorize payments from their banks, make payments through banks and receive credit information from the relevant trading platforms upon completion of transactions.

The R3 consortium has launched the Corda Settler payment application aimed at making global cryptocurrency payments on corporate blockchains. The first cryptocurrency supported by Corda Settler was XRP.

In the future, SWIFT intends to connect the gateway for other blockchain platforms, e-commerce sites and trading systems that are not related to the distributed registry. The implemented interbank payment standard increases the speed and transparency of transactions by detailing them. SWIFT developed it amid growing competition from payment solutions from Ripple, JP Morgan and Transferwise.

SWIFT transaction technology is comparatively slow, and money transfers can take days, while blockchain technologies could do the same job in minutes or even seconds. However, so far SWIFT remains a monopolist in the interbank transfer market. Financial organizations from 200 countries are connected to the system for February 2019, and the volume of transfers reaches $150 trillion. per year^[9].

2018

In Europe, work began on the creation of an analogue of SWIFT

On August 27, 2018, it became known about the start of work on the creation of an analogue of SWIFT in Europe. This was stated by German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, speaking at a conference of ambassadors to the Foreign Ministry  in Berlin.

According to him, work on proposals for the creation of independent payment systems in Europe has already begun, but this will not be easy.

We must strengthen Europe's autonomy and sovereignty in trade, economic and financial policy. It will not be easy, but we have already begun to do it. We are working on proposals for (...) payment channels and the creation of more independent systems from SWIFT, the creation of a European monetary fund, - said the minister (quoted by RIA Novosti[10]

Eddie Astanin re-elected to SWIFT board

On June 18, 2018, Eddie Astanin the Chairman of the Board of the National Settlement Depository was re-elected as a candidate Russia from the Board of Directors of the interbank transfer system. SWIFT Nominated to the SWIFT Board of Directors, Eddie Astanin was a decision of the General Meeting. Rosswift More. here

As of June 18, SWIFT's board of directors includes 25 members representing the countries with the most SWIFT message traffic.

2017

SWIFT GPI (global payments innovation)

gpi - a set of services that increases the speed, transparency and makes it possible to track the routes of international payments. Since January 2017, more than 125 foreign banks have already joined this service. Over 35 foreign banks are already actively using SWIFT gpi for daily exchange of more than 100,000 gpi payments. The number of gpi payments made in the SWIFT system exceeds 5 (five) million transactions, which allows you to effectively build work with payments of both the bank itself and its customers.

Alfa-Bank was the first in Russia to use SWIFT gpi service, which increases the speed, transparency and predictability of cross-border payments for its customers. Since January 2018, this information payment service has also become available to Alfa-Bank customers.

The first cyber attack on a Russian bank through SWIFT

The first bank affected by the cyber attack with the withdrawal of funds through the SWIFT system was the subsidiary bank Globex, controlled by Vnesheconombank (VEB), Kommersant reports citing a source. The withdrawal of funds is not related to the international interbank information transfer and payment system (SWIFT), the reason is the vulnerability of the information security of the tank itself. 

Main article: Losses of banks from cybercrime

Sberbank and SWIFT will develop blockchain together

In October 2017, SibosSibos is ^[11] the ^[12] Sberbank and SWIFT signed memoranda of cooperation in the development and piloting of high-tech products developed and promoted by SWIFT.

"The parties agreed to coordinate steps to assess the possibility of using blockchain technology in interbank settlement platforms," the press service said.

To reach agreements, Sberbank joined the international group of financial institutions testing the prototype DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) of the SWIFT platform, developed as part of the SWIFT gpi (Global Payments Innovations) project. The platform uses the capabilities of a distributed registry built on blockchain technology to reconcile payment information in real time.

Sberbank also plans to evaluate the possibility of using the SWIFT AMH (Alliance Messaging Hub) system as a technological solution that allows you to centralize and optimize the processing of internal and external payment flows and other financial transactions of Sberbank Group.

Swift and top six banks to test distributed registry technology

ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, DBS Bank, RBC and Wells Fargo will participate in the testing. Interbank messaging network Swift has formed the first group of six leading correspondent banks to participate in a pilot test of Distributed Register Technology (DLT) to determine whether banks can use this technology to synchronize nostro account databases in real time.

Research is carried out within the framework of the global payment initiative SWIFT (GPI), aimed at improving the standards of correspondent banking.

ANZ, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, DBS Bank, RBC and Wells Fargo will work with Swift to identify issues related to the implementation of DLT, develop technical requirements and create an application. Experimental testing will then be carried out. Later, another 20 banks will join the program for further verification and testing of the DLTP concept ^[13].

The current model of working with correspondent accounts requires banks to constantly monitor the movement of funds in their foreign accounts and to provide a debit with a loan at the end of each operating day. At the same time, the cost of servicing these accounts accounts for a significant share of the cost of making cross-border payments.

Real-time payment monitoring service

Bank customers will be able to integrate this service directly into their SWIFT message streams, making it easier to detect unusual patterns achieved by screening messages according to their chosen own policies and risks.

The service launched in April 2017 as a self-hosted client utility, meaning there is no need to install and maintain hardware or software, and will initially target small financial institutions and central banks that seek to meet the requirements of new stricter security rules. The cost of the service for customers was not disclosed^[14] for^[15]

The system will mark payment messages that do not comply with the established rules with a "red flag" and analyze user transaction patterns, developing a traffic profile of messages based on their specific activities and data on countries, counterparties and currencies with which they deal.

This tool is SWIFT's newest achievement in strengthening cybersecurity after an attack on the Bank of Bangladesh, when hackers, using a messaging network, stole $81 million from its account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Similar attacks were launched against companies in Ecuador and Vietnam.

2016

SWIFT warns banks of growing threat of cyber attacks

SWIFT management sent a letter to client banks in December warning of the growing threat of cyber attacks. A similar document was at the disposal of Reuters^[16] of ^[17]. Read more: Information security in banks

SWIFT will help banks identify fraudulent payments

SWIFT announced in September 2016 the introduction of a daily reporting system to help banks identify fraudulent payments through the system. It is reported that SWIFT will send banks a Daily Validation Report, reflecting the results of activities in the context of currencies, countries and partners (recipient banks). The report will highlight transactions for large amounts or unusual payments, as well as new combinations of payment participants. With this report, banks can then reconcile the details of such payments with their own transfer data. Any discrepancies will be a warning about fraudulent activities, increasing the chances of banks to cancel ^[18].

At the same time, SWIFT plans to send summaries along a channel other than the one used to make payments. Thus, if criminals gain control of the SWIFT bank terminal to the point where they can hide locally generated reconciliation records, they also will not have the ability to intercept and spoof the report.

SWIFT tells customers about new hacking

The international interbank information transfer system SWIFT announced new hacker attacks on banks, writes Reuters, citing a private letter from the system to its clients. The document says that hacking attempts have been made since June. Some of them were successful^[19].

Central Bank published a statement on the information security of SWIFT participants

The Bank of Russia publishes a Statement by the participants of the SWIFT Monitoring Forum "On the Cyber Stability of the Financial Ecosystem." The document was developed with the participation of the Bank of Russia in connection with the incidents identified in 2015-2016 related to the SWIFT infrastructure.

The statement noted the importance of information security activities carried out by organizations with access to the SWIFT network as an element of information security of the entire financial system as a whole. The Forum recommends such financial organizations to be guided by the recommendations developed by SWIFT, as well as to intensify the study of cyber resistance issues^[20].

There is also a strong emphasis on effective information security risk management, which includes the use of both technical controls and management, as well as appropriate corporate governance mechanisms.

Within the framework of cooperation with the central (national) banks member states EEU , the Bank of Russia sent a statement to Armenia,,, Belarus Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan, which are not participants in the Forum, as well as to Tajikistan and. Uzbekistan

The SWIFT Monitoring Forum was formed by the Bank of Belgium with the participation of representatives of national (central) banks of the countries participating in the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures of the Bank for International Settlements.

Hackers hacked SWIFT. Tens of millions of dollars stolen

Embezzlement from Bangladesh Bank

Hackers were able to hack into the SWIFT financial transaction system, which is used as a standard for interbank interaction. This was reported by representatives of the British company BAE Systems, which develops in the field of information security and the defense industry. Experts came to this conclusion during an investigation into the thefts from the central bank of Bangladesh^[21].

Hackers tried to withdraw $951 million from the bank of the South Asian country. Most of the transactions were blocked, but everything has already been withdrawn to the accounts of gambling establishments in the Philippines, after which traces of this money were lost.

It was initially reported that the attackers used stolen logins and passwords of bank employees, but now it has been revealed that hackers also hacked SWIFT software to erase records of illegal transactions.

SWIFT is rightly considered the "circulatory system" of the globally financial market, which is a secure interbank platform for the exchange of information and payments. More than 11 thousand financial organizations in more than 200 countries of the world are connected to the system. Compromising the software used by SWIFT could lead to unprecedented embezzlement in the history of cybercrime.

BAE experts have reported some technical details of the attack that will help stop similar precedents in the future. In particular, fraudsters used servers with Egyptian IP addresses to monitor the work of bank employees with the SWIFT system. In order to hide traces of illegal transactions, hackers introduced the evtdiag.exe malware, which "cleaned up" the SWIFT database in Bangladesh Bank. At the same time, it remains unknown what images hackers ordered money transfers.

Russian banks are subjected to cyber attacks through the SWIFT system

Cybercriminals use the SWIFT interbank information exchange system for a new type of attack on Russian banks. So, according to the source of the Izvestia newspaper, cyber fraudsters took away about 2 million euros from the affected banks. Experts are sure that this is just a trial balloon. In the future, the damage from theft of money through SWIFT will grow.

Technically, experts say, the cyber attack scheme on the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) system is not inherently different from the attack on bank correspondent accounts. Fraudsters launch malware to hack the information system of a credit institution (in this case, SWIFT). Most often - through the distribution of phishing emails. It is enough for one employee to open an infected letter, and the road is open for hackers.

After that, the bank's information infrastructure is seized - in fact, attackers begin to manage the network, information about all bank operations, the frequency and volume of transactions, and the balance of the correspondent account becomes available to them. Hackers "sit" on the bank's network for a week, a maximum of two. Then a team is prepared to withdraw (cash out) the stolen funds, fake documents are formed on the write-off of funds from the correspondent account, certified by the legal signatures of the bank's responsible persons.

Payment orders are sent to the payment system, for which this is a legal payment document, therefore it is obliged to execute it in accordance with the contract and legislation.

".. According to SWIFT logic, this is the next possible target of hacker attacks in Russia, "Ilya Medvedovsky, CEO of Digital Security (Digital Security), comments on the situation to Izvestia. - Just as at one time happened with the AWS of the CBD (automated workplace of the Bank of Russia client), SWIFT today, after attacks on Western banks, clearly ceased to be a "black box" for attackers. The technology of attacks on SWIFT has already been sufficiently debugged, which means that it is likely that Russian cybercriminals will be able to take advantage of Western experience. "

Russian banks want to rebuild work with SWIFT

Russian bankers, after a series of hacker attacks that debited tens of millions of dollars from bank accounts, thought about the risks of settlements. Bankers are asking SWIFT to remove the intermediary and work with them directly, as around the world, media reports^[22].

The working group on the technical aspects of using Rossvifta SWIFT sent a letter to SWIFT with a proposal to switch to supporting Russian SWIFT users in accordance with world practice - without a third party, the minutes of the working group say.

This third party, Alliance Factors, is SWIFT's only business partner in Russia and the CIS, according to the system's website. Business partners sell SWIFT products for a commission, but SWIFT also endowed Alliance with the function of the first support line: in case of technical problems, Russian users turn to Alliance. Customers from other countries contact SWIFT's 24-hour support centers.

This additional function gives Alliance access to all confidential information of users in Russia and the CIS, without it technical problems cannot be solved, two members of the Rossvift committee explained to the publication.

Alliance Factors is registered in Cyprus, in Russia there are two Allyans Factors LLC. Search engines find two sites of such companies with the same Moscow phones. "It is not clear on what basis the company's employees provide services in, To Moscow perhaps, by. to outsourcing These employees have access to very important information. And this means that in case of losses, the bank does not understand where to go, "says a member of the Rossvift committee.

There are no complaints about the work of the intermediary, but a series of hacker attacks scared bankers. Alliance Factors has been a third party for more than 20 years, but now it has begun to cause concern about the recent theft of $81 million from the Central Bank of Bangladesh on the fake instructions of SWIFT, the newspaper's source explains: "A couple of days ago, $10 million was withdrawn from the Ukrainian bank. I would like to understand how safe the system is. " "There are many good reviews about Alliance Factors, its specialists respond quickly and do their job efficiently. You just need to clarify the organizational and legal form, perhaps leave one legal entity in Russia, "says another banker

2015

Will disconnection from SWIFT be a disaster for Russia?

According to Nikolay Nosov, Ph.D., an independent expert, Russian banks may have difficulties after disconnecting from the SWIFT system^[23]

However, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation took care of these problems, the expert noted. In the album UFEBM (the unified formats of electronic bank messages) in addition to the free format (ED501, in extreme cases, it was possible to work through it), a form of messages in ED503 format appeared, which is announced as a format structured under SWIFT.

Thus, on the day of disconnection from the SWIFT system, the Russian bank will be able to send a financial message to another Russian bank through the AWS of the KBR (automated workplace of the Bank of Russia client), where the ability to process SWIFT-format electronic messages has already been added (in the slang of bank employees - swift). And if banks are going to implement the law on NPS, then this is how they will do it. Testing was carried out in December 2014, which allows us to conclude that Russian banks will not be left without service.

Still, the service is pretty raw. It does not work around the clock and there are large technological windows. The service is focused only on banks and there will be no exchange with foreign partners: the Central Bank of the Russian Federation does not solve all problems.

Exchange with foreign banks

Russian banks will be able to work with their foreign partners on the day of disconnection from the SWIFT system. There will be no big problems, Noskov believes, it will be inconvenient, and, probably, payments will become a little more expensive. There are several options for working:

• Open correspondent accounts in banks that have not fallen under disconnection from the SWIFT system - many Russian leading banks have subsidiaries in Europe. These are European banks, and it is difficult to imagine that they will also be disconnected from the SWIFT system. Even if all of Russia is disconnected from SWIFT. And you can also open correspondent accounts in Chinese banks.
• Work via telex.
• Work through the client-bank system. If there are many correspondent accounts, it is inconvenient - for each correspondent bank you will have to install your own client-bank system. But possible.

What should I do?

The discussion of the disconnection of Russia from SWIFT revealed problems that had not been paid attention to before. Indeed, the system has many drawbacks.

• The system is technologically old and slowly changing under the influence of time. The storage period does not exceed six months, which limits the possibility of a judicial challenge to documents. It would be easier if the archives were stored for several years, which, with the modern level of technology, does not pose a problem.
• The system is very expensive to run and operate, resulting in high transaction costs.
• Cryptographic tools certified in Russia or other countries cannot be used in it. There are high risks of taking information and its availability to the operator of the processing center.
• All processing centers are located outside of Russia, so that any transaction is processed abroad, which contradicts Russian law.
• There are political risks.

There is a need to create a new system of international banking document management, in which there would be many regional processing centers that take into account the laws of the countries located there.

For example, a Russian center operating in accordance with Russian laws and requirements for cryptographic tools, Chinese - meets the requirements of China. Internal networks can be closed from each other. Exchange between regional centers can be regulated by bilateral agreements. According to media reports, negotiations with China to create such a system are underway.

At the same time, the main problems are not in the field of IT. There are many systems of secure electronic document management, including those developed in Russia. The point is trust in such a network and the number of its clients. According to the expert, in this place it is worth thinking about political support and then there will be no panic when the question arises about disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT system. And the Russian banking system will be able to refuse these services itself.

SWIFT requires ChronoPay to rename ChronoSwift service

Основная статья: ChronoSwift

A representative of Russia will appear on the board of directors of the SWIFT system

Russia received the right to nominate a candidate for the board of directors of the international payment system SWIFT. According to Roman Chernov, executive director of the Rossvift association, according to the results of 2014, Russia took 13th place in terms of financial traffic in SWIFT.

According to the rules of the system, this allows you to nominate your candidate to the SWIFT board of directors, which employs 25 people. The candidate must be an employee of the SWIFT shareholder organization, that is, one of the 10 largest banks in Russia by assets. The new board of directors is expected to be approved in June 2015.

2014

A bill has been prepared to create in Russia its own analogue SWIFT

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and the Central Bank have prepared a draft law that will create in Russia an analogue of the global system for the exchange of interbank financial messages SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, Community of World Interbank Financial Telecommunications). This was announced on August 27, 2014 by Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev.

According to Moiseev, the idea of ​ ​ transferring Russian credit institutions to the internal messaging system is aimed at ensuring the uninterrupted operation of banks.

It is known that India is now creating its own interbank information transfer system, which will allow processing all transactions within the country.

In February 2014, a few days after the start of active actions of pro-Russian activists in Crimea, the Financial Times reported on the possible imposition of sanctions against Russian banks by analogy with those applied to Iran in 2012. Then Iranian banks were disconnected from the SWIFT system, for some time losing the opportunity to perform international financial transactions. The shutdown of Iranian SWIFT banks was the first such case in the history of the service.

According to experts interviewed by CNews in March 2014, in the event of a hypothetical disconnection from SWIFT, Russian "banks will be able to switch to correspondent accounts of partners in Europe and the United States, and bypass the ban through TARGET, SEPA and other systems." At the same time, transfer operations "will become a little more expensive and more difficult, and, of course, this will shift onto the shoulders of customers."

According to CNews interlocutors, SWIFT did not return to Iran, but local banks were able to work through partners in Turkey, the UAE and other countries.

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation intends to introduce regulation of the SWIFT system

The Ministry of Finance intends to introduce regulation of the SWIFT system, as well as the Bloomberg and Reuters terminals. The notification of the beginning of public discussion of the relevant amendments to the law "On the payment system" is published on a single portal of legal information.

is no norm in the legislation of the Russian Federation that allows you to define the concept of" operator of critical infrastructure services "(SWIFT, Bloomberg, Reuters, etc.). Due to the lack of requirements for the implementation of the activities of the operator of critical infrastructure services, as well as the rules for the provision of information and services, there are risks associated with the implementation of activities, both operators of critical infrastructure services and operators for the transfer of funds and (or) operators of payment infrastructure services due to non-provision (improper provision) of information and services, - the Ministry of Finance describes the problem in need of regulation. "In addition, the definition of the concept and the establishment of requirements for the implementation of the activities of the" operator of services of critical infrastructure "will make it possible to determine responsibility for the non-provision (improper provision) of information and services."

The Ministry of Finance notes that this bill is aimed at structuring the concepts of "operator of critical infrastructure services" and "operator of critical infrastructure services."

Thus, for organizations providing information and service services in the financial markets, as well as organizations providing services for the exchange of financial information, including information on making payments, regulatory legal regulation will be carried out by establishing rights and responsibilities to "Critical Infrastructure Service Operators" and "Critical Infrastructure Service Operators" in order to minimize the risks associated with the exchange of payments and other aggregated financial information.

The Ministry of Finance may oblige SWIFT to register a legal entity in Russia

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation wants to oblige "operators of significant infrastructure," which may include the SWIFT system, to register a legal entity in Russia, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev told reporters in September 2014. The project does not provide for the introduction of any special punitive measures for such operators in the event of their refusal to serve customers.

The traffic of the SWIFT international banking information exchange system in the Russian Federation in 2014 grew by more than 40% against an average growth of 30% in previous years. This was announced by the executive director of the RosSWIFT association Roman Chernov (Based on TASS materials).

"In recent years, traffic growth has averaged 30%, this year generally more than 40%. This means that SWIFT is needed, important, effective for our users, "Chernov said. According to him, now about 360 thousand messages are transmitted in Russia every day within the system, and more than 600 financial companies and corporations are participants in the system

CyberPlat created the Russian analogue of SWIFT

Основная статья: CyberFT

Bank of Russia offered Russian banks an alternative to SWIFT

According to media reports, the Central Bank recommended that Russian credit institutions use their own experience instead of the international interbank system SIWFT. The regulator sent a letter to banks urging them to use their own updated technology. It became an upgraded version of the ED501 system, which was developed in 2010. Over the past four years, the system has not become widespread: banks chose to use SWIFT. ED501 began to be used only for correspondence with the Central Bank^[24].

The regulator also asked banks to consider which alternative channels would be suitable for operations abroad. He asked to provide this information by September 12 and clarify in what time frame banks will be able to switch to these channels. According to bankers, the technology of the Central Bank has not yet been worked out enough to completely replace SWIFT even for work only in Russia, the media say.

Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan discuss the possibility of creating an analogue of SWIFT

Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan are discussing the possibility of creating an analogue of SWIFT This was announced in October 2014 by Deputy Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus Sergei Dubkov. "Belarus uses the SWIFT system, like Russia and Kazakhstan. But this does not mean that we should not have other channels of interaction that are controlled by us and comfortable in terms of the safety of payment information, "he said in an interview with the state agency BelTA.

S. Dubkov added that the central banks of the three countries are also working to integrate national payment systems, "so that the national payment systems and BELKART that are being created in Russia and Kazakhstan interact and that this service is provided to both citizens and enterprises."

According to him, the integration of national payment systems does not come down only to the unification of bank payment card systems. It is also necessary to organize interbank interaction, in other words, to create an analogue of the international system for transferring information and making payments SWIFT (Based on RIA Novosti materials).

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation will complete work on the creation of the Russian analogue SWIFT by May 2015

The Bank of Russia is creating its own system for transmitting financial messages, said Ramil Kanafina, deputy head of the national payment system department of the Central Bank. She noted that this system will be 100% owned by the Bank of Russia.

"The Bank of Russia in connection with the challenges that are possible so far - we imply that there may be such calls, creates its own system for transmitting financial messages... Time is in a hurry, so in the very coming months we will already carry out concrete work. The completion of the entire project on the financial messaging system is May 2015, "Ms Kanafina said

The head of VTB equated the disconnection of Russia from the SWIFT system to the declaration of war

VTB head Andrei Kostin warned Western countries against disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT international banking exchange system. He stated this in an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt.

"In my personal opinion, the imposition of such sanctions will mean war. On the day when Russian banks will be disconnected from the SWIFT system, the US ambassador to Russia will have to leave Moscow, "said the head of VTB. According to him, the banking system is the most vulnerable segment of the Russian economy, as it relies on the dollar and the euro

Central Bank created an alternative to SWIFT

The Bank of Russia provided credit institutions with a new service for transmitting financial messages in SWIFT formats for domestic Russian operations. The service has been in effect since December 2014. In order to start using it, a financial organization needs to conclude an agreement with the Central Bank, according to an official statement from^[25] Bank^[26]. The service will allow credit institutions to transmit messages in SWIFT formats through the Bank of Russia in all regions, while there will be no restrictions.

The European Parliament proposed to disconnect Russia from SWIFT against the background of the return of Crimea to Russia

In September 2014, the European Parliament on its website announced the adoption of a resolution on the Ukrainian issue, in which it declared "signs of hope" that appeared in the development of the conflict, but called on the EU to intensify the confrontation with Russia, whose "true intentions are in doubt." As concrete steps, European officials proposed to consider the issue of excluding Russia from civilian nuclear cooperation and from the global system for exchanging interbank financial messages SWIFT.

The reaction of the global SWIFT looks sharp: the European Parliament resolution violates the fundamental principles of European law, according to the company: "Direct mention of SWIFT in the context of general sanctions causes enormous damage to the company's reputation, questioning its fundamental right to carry out entrepreneurial activities." SWIFT emphasizes that in accordance with its mission, the company intends to remain a global and neutral service provider for the financial industry. According to CNews, none of the Russian banks included in the sanctions lists were disconnected from SWIFT, because the imposed restrictions did not provide for this.

The international payment system SWIFT is not going to disconnect Russian banks from its network unilaterally due to political pressure, the organization's press service said on October 6, 2014.... "SWIFT will not make unilateral decisions to disconnect institutions from its network due to political pressure. SWIFT regrets the pressure exerted, as well as speculation in the media: both can undermine the international work of the organization's services. "

Notes

• Based on materials from ITAR-TASS and RIA Novosti