SWIFT to intensify localization efforts in China

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a global financial messaging platform based in Belgium, is stepping up its localization strategy in China to meet domestic financial institutions' growing demand for cross-border financial transaction services, a senior executive said.

"SWIFT regards China as one of the most strategic markets and after 35 years of serving this market, we are becoming fully onshore now," said Eddie Haddad, managing director of SWIFT Asia-Pacific, referring to the new legal entity that the platform is planning to establish in China.

SWIFT had announced this plan in January in Beijing. "With this new entity, SWIFT will provide customized services to the Chinese financial community, such as services in local language, and we will also start using renminbi for its services and products in China, making renminbi the third billing currency after the US dollar and the euro," Eddie told China Daily in an exclusive interview.