Financial messaging service SWIFT announced yesterday that it would be able to provide another rebate to customers this year – the fifth consecutive year – of “at least 5 per cent”.

The rebate, announced at the start of the four-day international SIBOS conference being held in Sydney, will cost the firm about 20 million euros ($A34 million). The rebate is to be extended this year to include three new messaging services: FIN, FileAct and InterAct. Francis Vanbever, chief financial officer for SWIFT, said that the rebate followed traffic growth of 13.4 per cent in the year to date and a two-year program to reduce expenses structurally by 10 per cent. The rebate is on top of price reductions introduced in 2005 and 2006 that bring a recurring annual savings in excess of 60 million euros to SWIFT users. “We are confident that strategic investments for our SWIFT2010 initiatives and continued price reductions will strengthen our competitive edge and bring greater value to the SWIFT community,” Vanbeyer said. The final rebate percentage will be determined in December and credited in January 2007. SWIFT is the industry-owned co-operative supplying standardised messaging services and interface software to nearly 8,000 financial institutions in 206 countries and territories. SWIFT members include banks, broker-dealers and investment managers. SWIFT is the organiser of the SIBOS conference and exhibition which this year has attracted an estimate 6,000 attendees from around the world.