Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) neither holds funds on its own nor manages external client accounts. The cooperative began operating in 15 countries in 1973 and now operates in more than 200 countries, linking more than 11,000 financial institutions. The co-op delivered more than 5.6 billion messages in 2014—up from 10 million in 1979.1
SWIFT is headquartered in Belgium and has offices in Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, and the United Kingdom.
Prior to SWIFT, the only reliable means of message confirmation for international funds transfer was Telex. However, a range of issues plagued Telex, including low speed, security concerns, and a free message format. SWIFT's unified system of codes to name banks and describe transactions was a welcome change.
SWIFT and International Bank Account Numbers both come in handy when identifying parties in money transfers. However, while a SWIFT code is used to identify a specific bank, the IBAN code is used to identify an individual account involved in an international transaction.