Continued strong traffic and revenue performance enables Swift to reduce costs for its customers by offering an upfront 6.4% reduction on all FIN messaging. The Swift Board also raised the 2006 5% rebate announced at Sibos, Sydney in October, to 7%. The total value of the rebate is MEUR 26 and will be credited to customers in January.

Francis Vanbever, Chief Financial Officer, Swift, commented, "We are pleased to present our clients with significant price reductions to kick off the New Year. This is the third set of significant price reductions in 18 months, representing a cumulative price reduction of more than 20%. Between 2001 and 2006, the average price of Swift messaging services dropped by 52%. Swift will also have returned MEUR 122 in rebates to its customers over the same period. If financial prospects remain strong, we are optimistic we can announce additional price reductions from 1 July 2007 to further strengthen our competitive position. The 2006 rebate of 7% is based on users' total messaging invoice for 2006. This is the first time the rebate is based on all SwiftNet messaging and not just FIN."

The newly approved 2007 price reductions total MEUR 23 in annual saving for Swift's customers and complement those credited in July which totalled an additional MEUR 34 in annual savings. Customer feedback shows these planned price reductions are a meaningful benefit for the Swift community.

The following price reductions will go into effect on 1 January 2007:

• FIN: Reduction on FIN basic prices ranging from 3% to 10%;
• Intra-institution FIN messages: extension of the high volume discount by decreasing the volume threshold from 400,000 messages per month to 200,000 messages per month, and increase the discount for customers sending more than 400,000 messages per month;
• FIN MT 535 "Statement of Holdings": Suppress the special high volume discount and align MT 535 pricing on reporting messages. This will result in MEUR 5.3 in savings for the securities industry.

Swift CEO Leonard H. Schrank added, "We have achieved the Swift Pricing Challenge I, which set the goal in 2001 of reducing overall prices by 50% over the 2002-2006 time frame. With today's price reduction, we are now on our way to our new goal of Swift Pricing Challenge II, which is to reduce overall prices by a further 50% between 2007 and 2011."