Russia, Iran eye alternative to SWIFT

ISTANBUL

Sanctions-hit Russia and Iran are focusing their efforts on bypassing SWIFT with an alternative interbank messaging system, an Iranian diplomat said on Thursday.

"We are making efforts in this direction," said Kazem Jalali, Iran's ambassador to Russia, according to Russian news channel RT.

Under Western sanctions over its war on Ukraine, Russia has been partially banned from the SWIFT system.

Moscow already has its own payment mechanism called the Financial Message Transfer System (SPFS).

In use since 2014, SPFS has similar functions and allows for the transmission of messages in SWIFT's format.