Belgium-based interbank messaging service SWIFT, used to transfer trillions of dollars between banks every day, said Wednesday it is providing a new tool to help banks fight cyber crime.
The new fraud and cyber-crime prevention service will enable SWIFT customers to screen their payment messages according to their own chosen parameters, enabling them to immediately detect any unusual message flows before transmission, said SWIFT.
Customers will be able to integrate the service directly into their SWIFT messaging flows, thereby significantly enhancing their ability to control their messaging activity, enabling the timely detection of unusual or uncharacteristic payment patterns, and improving their ability to prevent fraudulent transfer requests. They will also be able to define and control their screening parameters according to their own risk and compliance policies, and choose whether to set the review permissions for the alerts centrally, or at individual access points.
Initially targeted at smaller financial institutions and central banks, the service will be launched as a hosted utility solution, which will allow SWIFT users to access it instantly, with no hardware or software installation or maintenance. The service will develop a profile of each SWIFT user’s message traffic based on its specific business activities and the countries, counterparties and currencies it is typically involved with.
Combatting fraud and cyber-crime is a top priority for SWIFT and its customers,” said Luc Meurant, Head of financial crime compliance services, SWIFT. “Our new payment controls service is an important step in delivering a full suite of hosted offerings that address our customers’ needs in the fraud and cyber-crime prevention areas, as well as in the sanctions, Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance domains.”
