SWIFT

The cooperative organisation created and owned by banks which operates a network to facilitate the exchange of payment and other financial messages between financial institutions (including broker-dealers and securities companies) throughout the world. A SWIFT payment message is an instruction to transfer funds; the exchange of funds (settlement) subsequently takes place over a payment system or through correspondent banking relationships.

See SWIFT (S.W.I.F.T. s.c.r.l.) (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication)   

The principal international service for wire transfer message traffic that initiates funds transfers. Besides banks, SWIFT services securities brokers and dealers, clearing institutions, and recognized securities exchanges. It is a cooperative society located in Belgium and it has more than 2,600 member institutions.