SWIFT, the global finance arm that the West can twist

Graphic explaining the extent of the SWIFT international payments sytems which includes 11,000 banking organisations worldwide.

Exclusion from the SWIFT banking network would make it difficult for Russia to trade with the rest of the world

An exclusion from SWIFT, a very discreet but important cog in the machinery of international finance, is one of the most disruptive of the possible sanctions that the West could deploy against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

But its preeminent role in finance has also meant that the firm has had to cooperate with authorities to prevent the financing of terrorism.