2001 FIN price plan cuts cost of reporting

In response to the growing market need for intra-day reporting, the SWIFT board of directors decided at their December board meeting to significantly lower the cost of SWIFT's high-volume reporting message types (see below for details), with effect from 1 January 2001.

Increases in automation and straight-through processing (STP) at various points in the transaction chain have generated a higher demand within the financial services industry for intra-day reporting. SWIFT's decision to lower prices for reporting messages is in direct response to this need and underscores its continued commitment to provide the highest quality services at competitive prices. It also reflects the awareness within SWIFT of the financial industry's expanding range of messaging options.

"We've seen rapid growth in reporting messages over the past 12 months, which accounts for a third of all FIN traffic growth," says André Boico, director of product marketing at SWIFT. "The new pricing structure more accurately reflects the relative value of the various message types we offer. It's a value-based pricing model that responds to our customer's business needs."

SWIFT customers will benefit from the new price plan in proportion to the reporting activity that they undertake, with an average reduction of 22.5 percent for reporting messages. This is line with the trend in SWIFT pricing over the past seven years, with the average message price having dropped by 60 percent during this time and prices for domestic and intra-institution traffic falling to as low as 7.5 euro cents per message.

SWIFT has deliberately chosen a pricing structure that provides incentives to its customers and encourages traffic growth. This strategy has been successful to date, with traffic growing from an average of just under three million messages per day in 1995 to well over five million per day in 2000, and adding up to more than one billion FIN messages per year in both 1999 and 2000.

"It is no longer a case of 'one size fits all' pricing, but of finding a pricing formula that meets SWIFT's customers' desire for cost savings," says Martin Read, assistant general manager, Bank of Nova Scotia, and SWIFT board member and pricing task force chairman. "The lower prices for these messages will be very easy for SWIFT customers to understand. It's a straightforward price reduction and the end result is quite simply that bills will be smaller."

Messages affected

Specifically, the following high-volume reporting message types benefit from the price reduction: