A quick breakdown of what SWIFT is and why it matters

Re:A quick breakdown of what SWIFT is and why it matters by sealthedeal on Saturday February 26, 2022 @10:25AM (#30478283)

You can go online to swift and apply. Large corporates can actually be members. We access the SWIFT network through a myriad of different banking and financial institutions we have created partnerships with.

I.e. if you go and create a neobank through a baas provider you will inadvertently get access to SWIFT, it won’t be direct but you have access.

To get true access you have to go through and insane process and have a ton of controls and policies and create trust with the governing body of SWIFT.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:A quick breakdown of what SWIFT is and why it matters by baby on Saturday February 26, 2022 @11:35AM (#30479040)

So am I right that SWIFT not only gives you a protocol that you can use to interop with other banks, but also some sort of DNS system that tells you how to send money to almost any other bank? This makes me think of the Bitcoin lightning network a bit as well. To reach bank Z, bank A needs to find a route of pairs of banks that can perform settlements, so there must be some sort of routing table to do that. That routing table is probably a service that swift provides and thus if they cut the russian banks from accessing this, they wouldn't be able to figure out how to reach other banks.

[ Parent | on HN ]