SWIFT on security: Fresh anti-bank-fraud defenses now live Inter-bank data comms biz SWIFT says it has introduced mechanisms to better protect money transfers from tampering. We're told the fresh defenses will make it easier for banks to track movements of money. The payment controls are part of SWIFT's Customer Security Programme, a set of mandatory IT and physical security …
* Its very tricky to find banks that fully understand Swift fees, and Swift go out of their way to make it difficult for consumers to contact them.
* It costs 31.50 approx Eur to send money overseas outside Euro-zone (plus of course the real cost which is the actual negotiated FX rate).
* But its not generally possible to send money from source bank to destination bank directly, so an intermediary must be involved who in-turn charges a commission (not fixed fee).
* Then there's the charges if the transaction is rewound (deal / purchase) falls through. This isn't 100% equal to the money transferred out, it actually costs more, but banks I've used can't explain why.
* There's no clear info on the net to explain these charges, just casual talk on Expat forums. Its not Transparent: Anyone found a way to contact Swift?
For sure... But the thought of entrusting something big like an overseas apartment purchase to an upstart fintech competitor doesn't sit right with a lot of people... That's where the old guard banks and the FIAT money system always get their cake!
To be clear, SWIFT's customers (and owners) are the banks, not you, the man on the street. That's why they are a 'cooperative society' (as per Belgian law); they operate for the benefit of their members.
If anyone is being difficult on telling you what the SWIFT fee for a transfer is, it'll be your bank (possibly because they know they're taking you for a ride). Other banks, like HSBC, are very clear on the costs of a financial transfer between countries. For example, HSBC's SEPA payments (the EU-wide money transfers) are free online, the SWIFT transfers, used outside the SEPA area, can be £4-7 (and that's come down from £14 or so).
That *excludes* any fees the receiving bank charges their customer for receiving international payments (or any commission they charge on the resulting FOREX conversion). Yes, some banks are still assh*les like that (especially in Africa where hard foreign currency is like gold dust).
And then there is of course the case that not all banks choose to be part of the SWIFT system, and thus have to use an intermediary who *is*. Of course that intermediary wants a cut... you think they do it for free? Please. These are banks. *NOTHING* is for free.
"On Good Friday and ahead of the Easter holiday, the Shadow Brokers have dumped a new collection of files, containing what appears to be exploits and hacking tools targeting Microsoft's Windows OS and evidence the Equation Group had gained access to servers and targeted the SWIFT banking system of several banks across the world." link
EastNets is a third-party umbrella group for banks who don't have their own in-house SWIFT accounts for some reason or other, so it's not SWIFT itself that's been hacked. EastNets have no more access to the SWIFT network than any other client.
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