SWIFT (which is short for "Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications") was founded in 1973 and is, a member-owned cooperative through which the financial world conducts its business operations. It has more than 9,000 banking organizations, securities institutions and corporate customers in 209 countries.

The SWIFT organization exchanges millions of standardized and secured financial messages on a daily basis.

SWIFT is solely a carrier of messages. It does not hold funds nor does it manage accounts on behalf of customers, nor does it store financial information on an ongoing basis. As a data carrier, SWIFT transports messages between two financial institutions. This activity involves the secure exchange of proprietary data while ensuring its confidentiality and integrity.

There are more than 799 types of SWIFT messages. Money does not move with a Swift Message.

Money moves as a result of Central Banks being notified, while a SWIFT Message instruction of payment is made from one account in a country to another account in another country.

The most common SWIFT messages used in Private Placement Programs trading are:

MT-103 - SWIFT MT-103’s are the most commonly used form of SWIFT communication, and are normally used to make payment to customers of another bank in another country.

Whilst the MT103 is a standard message format, much of the content is flexible as banks have differing requirements as to the information they require to process payments.

In order for an MT103 and MT103+ message to be correctly interpreted by the receiving bank, the bank details contained within the file including IBAN and BIC details must be correct, in order for the transfer to take place correctly. 

MT-199 - Free Format Message. This message type is normally used by financial institutions to send information for which another message type is not applicable. It can be used as a status message to report reasons for a transaction instruction not being executed or as a message to reject a transaction.

MT-542 - This message is used to: Iinstruct the delivery of financial instruments free of payment, physically or by book-entry, to a specified party. Request the cancellation of a deliver free of payment instruction previously sent by the account owner. Pre-advise the account servicer of a forthcoming deliver free of payment instruction

MT-760 - The MT-760 is a type of SWIFT message that is sometimes requested in sugar trading because it functions much like a Bank Guarantee, although it carries with it a much higher level of risk for the issuer (usually the buyer), and a reduced level of risk for the recipient (the seller). Essentially, a MT-760 is a SWIFT message which guarantees that a bank will make payment in favor of a client of another bank. When a MT-760 is issued, the issuing bank puts a hold on its client's funds, thereby ensuring that the funds are in place to make payment to the recipient of the MT-760.

MT-799 - is a simple text message, sent bank to bank. This is used for a bank to bank proof of funds, only. The MT799 is not a form of payment and it is not a bank undertaking or promise to pay. It is simply a bank to bank confirmation of the funds on deposit, nothing more.

For more information on how the SWIFTS work with our program # 9, go here.

For more information about SWIFT, go to thier website here: www.swift.com