About SWIFT
SWIFT is the financial industry-owned co-operative supplying secure, standardised messaging services and interface software to 7,800 financial institutions in more than 200 countries. SWIFT's worldwide community includes banks, broker/dealers and investment managers, as well as their market infrastructures in payments, securities, treasury and trade.
SWIFT consistently delivers quantifiable business value and proven technical excellence to its members through its comprehensive messaging standards, the security, reliability and ‘five nines’ availability of its messaging platform and its role in advancing STP. The guiding principles of SWIFT are clear: to offer the financial services industry a common platform of advanced technology and access to shared solutions through which each member can build its competitive edge. Over the past ten years SWIFT message prices have been reduced by over 70%, system availability approaches 5x9’s reliability — 99.999% of uptime.
一.SWIFT介绍
SWIFT又称：“环球同业银行金融电讯协会”，是国际银行同业间的国际合作组织，成立于一九七三年，目前全球大多数国家大多数银行已使用SWIFT系统。SWIFT的使用，使银行的结算提供了安全、可靠、快捷、标准化、自动化的通讯业务，从而大大提高了银行的结算速度。由于SWIFT的格式具有标准化，目前信用证的格式主要都是用SWIFT电文，因此有必要对SWIFT进行了解。
二.SWIFT特点
1.SWIFT需要会员资格。我国的大多数专业银行都是其成员。
2.SWIFT的费用较低。同样多的内容，SWIFT的费用只有TELEX（电传）的18%