EU reaches political accord on EU-US Terrorist Finance Tracking Program Agreement

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La Hulpe, 8 July, 2010 - Today, the European Parliament formally adopted the EU-US Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP) Agreement* following political agreement with the Council of Ministers on 24 June.

As the anti-terrorist finance tracking provisions of the Agreement apply to financial messaging data held in Europe by international providers operating in the EU and the US, it will apply to SWIFT. It is set to enter into force on 1 August 2010.

Responding to the new Agreement, SWIFT Chief Executive Officer, Lázaro Campos, commented. “Protection of our customer data has been and remains SWIFT’s top priority. Our safeguards are globally recognised as best practice and we welcome the fact that these have been taken into account. They include limiting the scope of data requests to anti-terrorism purposes only, segregating data to a secure environment, and auditing every justification for data searches.”

SWIFT will work with the authorities, under the Agreement’s new legal framework, to support operational implementation of the protections envisaged.

* The EU-US Agreement on the Processing and Transfer of Financial Messaging Data from the EU to the US for purposes of the EU-US Terrorist Finance Tracking Program.

About SWIFT
SWIFT is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 9,400 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in 209 countries. SWIFT enables its users to exchange automated, standardised financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs, reducing operational risk and eliminating operational inefficiencies. SWIFT also brings the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest.

For more information, please refer to our website http://www.swift.com/ or contact:

The SWIFT press office
In Brussels: +32 2 655 3377
pressoffice@swift.com

News Source : EU reaches political accord on EU-US Terrorist Finance Tracking Program Agreement