The Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) system is a mechanism for the
clearing of domestic and international payments.
History
The development of the SIC started in 1980.
Since 1987, the SIC system has been operated by
SIX Interbank Clearing
SIX Interbank Clearing AG (before November 2008: Swiss Interbank Clearing AG), based in Zurich, Switzerland, is a subsidiary of SIX Group.
Since 1987 SIX Interbank Clearing has operated on behalf of the Swiss National Bank a payment platform for ...
(100% owned by the
SIX Group
SIX operates the infrastructure for the Swiss financial centre. The company provides services relating to securities transactions, the processing of financial information, payment transactions and is building a digital infrastructure. The company ...
) on behalf of the
Swiss National Bank
The Swiss National Bank (SNB; german: Schweizerische Nationalbank; french: Banque nationale suisse; it, Banca nazionale svizzera; rm, Banca naziunala svizra) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy an ...
(SNB).
12 Swiss banks participated to the launch. The SIC was one of the first
real-time gross settlement
Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems are specialist Electronic funds transfer, funds transfer systems where the transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to any other bank on a "real-time" and on a "gross (economics), gross" ba ...
system operating worldwide (
Cedel
Clearstream is a financial services company that specializes in the settlement of securities transactions and is owned by Deutsche Börse AG. It provides settlement and custody as well as other related services for securities across all asset c ...
was launched in 1970).
In 1990, different priorities were introduced. In March 1995, the system was connected to the
Secom
Secom Co., Ltd. (Japanese: セコム株式会社, ''Sekomu kabushikigaisha'') is a Japanese security company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It has operations in Japan, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Thailand ...
to reduce transaction risks. In 1996, the Swiss Stock Exchange became an
electronic trading platform
In finance, an electronic trading platform also known as an online trading platform, is a computer software program that can be used to place orders for financial products over a network with a financial intermediary. Various financial products c ...
, and the system SWX was developed to link it to the SIC. The repo platform was introduced in 1998, and the settlement of checks was launched in 2000.
In 1998, the SNB loosened the conditions to participate to the SIC, allowing non-banks to become participants. A remote access to the system was also allowed to international subsidiaries and joint-ventures. A year later, 63 out of 291 participants were not banks. 556,000 transactions were settled on an average day in 1999 (average total value of 170 billion francs).
In 2016, the SIC developed a new
ISO 20022
ISO 20022 is an ISO standard for electronic data interchange between financial institutions. It describes a metadata repository containing descriptions of messages and business processes, and a maintenance process for the repository content. Th ...
-compliant software system for its clearing services. By 2018, the new system was rolled out to all banks in Switzerland, and further international development of the standard was planned.
In 2019, the Swiss National Bank launched a new service to clear
digital currency
Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...
transactions, and developed its own
blockchain
A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...
-based digital currency to make this service interoperable with the SIC. The service, which aims to incorporate virtual central bank funds into a
distributed ledger
A distributed ledger (also called a shared ledger or distributed ledger technology or DLT) is the consensus of replicated, shared, and synchronized digital data that is geographically spread (distributed) across many sites, countries, or institutio ...
technology, was first launched in Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Fintech
Fintech, a portmanteau of "financial technology", refers to firms using new technology to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data are r ...
startups have access to this service if they have a legal fintech licence and a business model that revolves around payments.
Description
By 2018, 325 financial institutions (national and international) participated in the SIC. The system processes an average of 2.4 million transactions every day with an average daily total value of CHF 156 billion. The majority of cashless transactions in Switzerland are settled through the SIC.
See also
*
SIX Interbank Clearing
SIX Interbank Clearing AG (before November 2008: Swiss Interbank Clearing AG), based in Zurich, Switzerland, is a subsidiary of SIX Group.
Since 1987 SIX Interbank Clearing has operated on behalf of the Swiss National Bank a payment platform for ...
*
Swiss National Bank
The Swiss National Bank (SNB; german: Schweizerische Nationalbank; french: Banque nationale suisse; it, Banca nazionale svizzera; rm, Banca naziunala svizra) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy an ...
*
Clearing house
Clearing house or Clearinghouse may refer to:
Banking and finance
* Clearing house (finance)
* Automated clearing house
* ACH Network, an electronic network for financial transactions in the U.S.
* Bankers' clearing house
* Cheque clearing
* Cl ...
References
External links
Official website
Banking in Switzerland
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