Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications

SWIFT is a cooperative organized under Belgian law, with headquarters in La
Hulpe, near Brussels. SWIFT provides communications services to the
international banking industry, including payments and administrative
messages and, more recently, securities settlements. Traffic in 1991 was
about 362 million messages. SWIFT is owned by the member banks --
approximately 1,600 -- including the central banks of most countries. The
U.S. Federal Reserve is not a member, but participates in certain types of
payments. Securities brokers and dealers, clearing and depository
institutions, exchanges for securities, and travellers checks issuers also
participate in SWIFT. SWIFT was organized in 1973 and started operations
in 1977.