In order to sanction Russia for its military invasion in Ukraine, France would be in favor of the exclusion of the country from the Swift banking system, said Friday the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire.
Acronym for “Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication”, Swift was established in 1973 and is based in Brussels (Belgium).
Implemented to replace the aging Telex technology, the group carries out several tasks: transit of payment orders between banks, funds transfer orders from bank customers, orders to buy or even sell securities.
All thanks to standardized messages, allowing fast, confidential and inexpensive communication between financial institutions. The company promotes its reliability on its website and boasts “more than 11,000 banking and securities organizations, market infrastructures and corporate clients in more than 200 countries and territories”.
An important system in Russia
According to the site of the national association Rosswift, Russia would be the second country after the United States in number of users with some 300 Russian banks and institutions members of the system.
More than half of Russian credit organizations are represented in Swift, it is specified by this source.
However, Moscow is setting up its own financial infrastructure, whether for payments, ratings or transfers, via a system called SPFS.
countries at odds
Several countries, including France, are in favor of excluding Russia.
“We are advocating for the exclusion of Russia from Swift,” said Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, whose country buys 70 to 80% of its gas from Russia and who until now was opposed to it.
“We must not wait for there to be shootings in the streets of Kiev and corpses strewn on the ground”, was also indignant on the subject the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkevics.
Nevertheless, other nations, although eager to sanction Russia, were reserved, fearing for their supplies.
“A suspension of Swift would have massive repercussions for German companies in their relations with Russia, but also for settling energy delivery payments,” German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said on Friday.