What is SWIFT? How Russian banks got cut out of the financial system [CNBC]

Effective communication systems are the backbone of how the world stays connected, from mobile phones, email networks, to banks.   What do banks use to communicate? SWIFT – or the Society for Worldwide International Financial Telecommunications – is a system that banks use to securely send messages to each other. It is one of the key pillars of the financial world, connecting more than 11,000 member banks in some 200 countries and territories globally. Trillions of dollars’-worth of currency are sent across borders every single day – and it’s largely thanks to the messages sent by SWIFT.