

Human: Can you explain how the SWIFT financial system works?

Assistant: 
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) is a bank consortium that serves as a secure communication network for banks and financial institutions all around the world.  SWIFT facilitates and streamlines secure banking transactions, and the communication network provided by SWIFT allows confidential and secure messaging between financial institutions and customers.  SWIFT is a secure means of transferring messages and funding across international borders, and most international financial activity is conducted through the network offered by SWIFT.  SWIFT is a non-profit organization and serves member institutions worldwide, including tens of thousands of banks, credit unions, corporations, and government organizations. SWIFT is headquartered in Belgium’s European Union capital Brussels, and it serves over 11,000 member organizations in more than 200 countries.
Sure! The SWIFT financial system is a secure global network for payment transactions understood as standardized messages using a common language. Integrating over 12,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries, SWIFT provides a unprecedented level of protection and reliability for international payments worldwide.  The messages are secure, automated, and guaranteed globally shared standards using “know your customer” procedures to prevent fraud and errors by any participants, eliminating the need for parties to transact in multiple differing locations or systems to clear and settle cross-border payments. Creation, usage, processing, and delivery of these secure messages is governed by International Banking and Finance Association (IBA) Rules, SWIFT’s local based rules, and general laws and regulations.  