Corporate Access to SWIFT

The issue of ‘Corporate Access to SWIFT’ was put on vote at the 2007 Annual General Meeting of SWIFT. Before that the issue was discussed in different committees of the board and was included in numerous papers to share it with wider community.

Anyone associated with the BFSI industry are aware that SWIFT does not sell directly to corporates rather it offers connectivity and creates awareness. The applications and services are offered by banks and third parties and it is important that this distinction be understood.

As far as corporate customers are concerned direct connectivity to SWIFT means cost effectiveness. Once connected, the Corporate Customers are able to choose one of the following existing and Board /AGM approved governance models in consultation with their Bank counterparts:

1. SWIFT Standardized CORporate Environment (SCORE)
2. Member -Administered Closed User Group (MA-CUG) or
3. Treasury Counterpart

Once this system is operational each corporate will be registered with a SWIFT id called Business Entity Identifier (BEI) and they will have to look to their Banks and vendors to provide the required business functionality. With the use of Swift Message Standards, corporates are allowed to exchange messages only with Banks. Currently corporates are permitted only to use payment related messages. Post the proposed changes it will be a matter of choice for the corporate to design their relay system independent of the connectivity option.

Contributed By:
Mr. KRS Mani
SWIFT Consultant