IN 1977 A string of 12 characters ushered in a new age of global finance. Until then a bank wiring money abroad needed to relay up to ten instructions on public phone lines, which were then typed into forms, taking time and causing errors. Then payments began to be facilitated by a code and secure network created by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), a club of 500-odd banks. A surge in global trade and investment followed. Last year nearly $140trn was transmitted across borders (161% of global GDP; see chart 1). Analysts reckon about 90% of that went through SWIFT. Its 11,000 members in 200 countries ping each other 42m times a day.

Source: The Economist