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Modulr glossary

SWIFT (Network)

SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is a global messaging network used by financial institutions, corporates and market infrastructures to exchange financial messages – often facilitating cross-border payments, securities, FX, capital markets commodities transactions. The term ‘SWIFT Payment’ has become colloquial with sending a cross-border payment facilitated by SWIFT communication, but the network itself is not involved with the execution of a transfer, only message exchange.

Applications

E-commerce:

Reduces fraud in online card payments by verifying the cardholder's identity

Banking and fintech:

Helps issuers and payment providers comply with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements.

Advantages

  • Enhanced security: Reduces unauthorised transactions by verifying that the genuine account holder is authorising the payment
  • Fraud prevention: Helps reduce chargebacks related to fraud.

Challenges

  • User Experience: Additional authentication steps can cause friction and increase checkout abandonment
  • Implementation complexity: Requires integration with card schemes and issuer systems.

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