SA's central securities depository, Strate, is marketing its own private network as an alternative to cut down on local message costs and the expense of using the Swift international network.
Strate provides clearing, settlement and depository services for electronic financial instruments such as shares.
Strate CEO Monica Singer says it does not make sense for a local entity to have to send a message to another local entity via Belgium, where Swift is located, and pay a Swift per-message fee as well as Telkom charges.
Swift, the Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, is an industry-owned co-operative that supplies secure messaging services to financial institutions in almost 200 countries.
When Strate merged with the Universal Exchange Corporation (Unexcor) last year, it took over Unexcor's network. Singer says other organisations are being encouraged to move onto that network for local communication or go to Strate for a shared connection with Swift.
At the same time, Strate is marketing its own Swift connections, with Singer saying that for international communications, it makes more sense for several users to share access to Swift than for each to have its own connection, with all the costs that entails.
Share
