Everyone following the war in Ukraine seems to be talking about SWIFT — but many people are hearing about it for the first time this week.
What SWIFT does and why it matters to Russia .
SWIFT, or the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, is a secure messaging service that more than 11k banks around the world use to communicate.
Cutting Russian banks’ access would isolate the country from the global financial community, and put more economic pressure on the Kremlin.
European countries use SWIFT to pay Russian companies for oil and gas. Regular folks overseas are also familiar with the system, using it to conduct cross-country money transfers — to pay bills, say or send someone money.
Blocking SWIFT in Russia could actually hurt some European countries, particularly Germany and Italy.
Without SWIFT it would be harder for these countries to buy much-needed Russian oil and gas.
Africhome had earlier reported that U.S. and its European counterparts have officially cut off SWIFT in some Russia banks.
