SWIFT

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. Global communication network that facilitates 24-hour secure international exchange of payment instructions between banks, central banks, multinational corporations, and major securities firms. A member owned cooperative organized in 1977 under Belgium law, it now includes over 6,500 participating members from more than 180 countries which together process in excess of a billion messages every year (about 300 million messages every day). See also CHIPS.