SSC
In the context of the financial system, SWIFT stands for:
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option C — Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication
Detailed Solution
SWIFT is a global network used by banks and financial institutions to send secure messages to each other about financial transactions, such as international money transfers. It does not hold or transfer money itself; it carries the standardised instructions that tell banks to make the payments.
SWIFT was founded in 1973 by a group of banks and is a cooperative society owned by its member institutions. Its headquarters is at La Hulpe, near Brussels, in Belgium. Today, more than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories use the SWIFT network.
Each bank on the network is identified by a unique SWIFT code, also called a BIC (Bank Identifier Code), which is 8 or 11 characters long. The code shows the bank, the country, the location and, in the longer form, the branch. When someone sends money from India to another country, the sending bank uses the receiving bank's SWIFT code to route the payment.
Because SWIFT is so important for international trade and finance, cutting a country's banks off from the network can be used as a powerful economic sanction. For example, several Russian banks were removed from SWIFT in 2022.
In India, domestic electronic transfers use other systems run by the Reserve Bank of India and the National Payments Corporation of India, such as NEFT (National Electronic Funds Transfer), RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement), IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) and UPI (Unified Payments Interface). Each bank branch in India has an IFSC (Indian Financial System Code) for these transfers.
Why not the other options?
- ✗System for Worldwide International Fund Transfer is an incorrect expansion.
- ✗Secure Web Interface for Financial Transactions is an incorrect expansion.
- ✗Society for World Investment and Fund Trading is an incorrect expansion.
Quick tip
Remember: SWIFT = Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, founded in 1973, headquarters in Belgium; its bank codes are called BIC.
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Abbreviations & Full Forms — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Abbreviations & Full Forms, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the full forms of common abbreviations used in government, banking, science, technology, defence, international relations and everyday life, such as ISRO, NABARD, SEBI, GDP, GST and UNICEF. These questions are quick marks if you have revised the most common abbreviations. Group them by field (banking, government bodies, science and technology, international organisations) and pay attention to small words such as 'of', 'for' and 'and', since wrong options often change just one word. Practise the abbreviations and full forms questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.