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The SWIFT Affair: Swiss Banking Secrecy and the Fight against Terrorist Financing
Open accessAbstract
The story broke in 2006: Since 9/11, US intelligence services have had access to practically any international money transfer data by infiltrating the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) network. Banks worldwide transfer money orders and personal customer data through this network. While the surveillance was all-embracing in 2001, it was gradually limited over the course of the last few years. Revealed by the New York Times, the SWIFT affair has had global as well as national implications. While this dissertation first examines the international dimension of the SWIFT surveillance, the analysis mainly focuses on the national repercussions for Switzerland. Arditi Prize 2010 in International Affairs.
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“Subsequent subpoenas, however, were narrower and limited to specific dates and countries of origin or destination (Koppel 2011).”
From Financial Sanctions, SWIFT, and the Architecture of the International Payment System (2023) · cites this paper as Koppel 2011
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
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“Importantly, the US 'war on terrorism' included a covert monitoring of global financial transactions through the SWIFT network (Connorton 2007; Koppel 2011).”
From Financial Sanctions, SWIFT, and the Architecture of the International Payment System (2023) · cites this paper as Koppel 2011
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Cited by
Financial Sanctions, SWIFT, and the Architecture of the International Payment System
Cipriani, M., Goldberg, L. S., & La Spada, G. (2023) · Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/jep.37.1.31 · Cited by 79
Rising despite the polycrisis? The European Parliament’s strategies of self-empowerment after Lisbon
Meissner, K. L., & Schoeller, M. G. (2019) · The European Union Beyond the Polycrisis? · doi:10.1080/13501763.2019.1619187 · Cited by 26
“The American-European exchange of financial data from SWIFT became salient following a leak into the press (Köppel 2011: 17).”
BackgroundTowards the Holy Grail of Cross-Border Payments
Bindseil, U., & Pantelopoulos, G. (2026) · Social Science Research Network · doi:10.1080/00213624.2026.2699654 · Cited by 19
“Although the use of telex messages for international interbank communication fundamentally increased the degree of financial integration, security and a lack of automation remained an issue even in the post-war area (Köppel, 2011).”
Brazil in the global anticorruption regime
Tourinho, M. (2018) · doi:10.1590/0034-7329201800104 · Cited by 8
“New demands imposed on the markets resulted in far greater transparency and monitoring of the international financial system across the board, often through questionable means (Köppel 2011).”
BackgroundA Comparison Between SWIFT and Blockchain from a Cyber Resiliency Perspective
Franchina, L., & Carlomagno, G. (2019) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-37670-3_12 · Cited by 2
Metadata
- Authors
- Köppel, J.
- Corresponding author
- Köppel, Johannes
- Venue
- Graduate Institute Publications eBooks
- Publisher
- Graduate Institute Publications
- Published
- 2011
- OpenAlex
- W1546827248
- Cited by
- 3
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Graduate Institute Publications eBooks (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- OpenEdition (OpenEdition) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Graduate Institute Geneva Institutional Repository (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Intelligence, Security, War Strategy
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Cybersecurity and Cyber Warfare Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance
- Keywords
- financial surveillance, money transfer, international financial regulation, Swiss banking secrecy, post-9/11 surveillance, national security
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