SWIFT has revealed plans to open a new Pacific corporate hub in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
In Kuala Lumpur, SWIFT is creating a new corporate services center akin to those in the U.S. and Europe focusing on IT development, qualification testing, support, finance, human resources and operational functions. By 2015, it expects to employ 100 staff in the new center; by the end of the year, it plans to have a management team in place and begin local hiring.
SWIFT also will expand its existing presence in Singapore, which currently comprises commercial team members and Standards and marketing staff, through the next three years. Additionally, SWIFT will make commercial hires around the region to support regional growth.
In January this year, SWIFT said it planned to increase its staff in Asia Pacific by 53% by 2015. To that point, SWIFT said the region accounted for 13% of its messaging traffic and 15% of revenue.
The new corporate hub is a key milestone that strongly supports our ambitious growth strategy for the region, says Gottfried Leibbrandt, CEO of SWIFT. By 2015 we will have dramatically increased our resources in Asia Pacific, which is expected to contribute significantly to the growth of our global business.
SWIFT has been present in Asia Pacific for 30 years. It currently has eight commercial and support offices in the region, including customer support centers in Hong Kong and Tokyo.
SWIFTs evolution in Asia Pacific reflects our belief in continued growth in the Asia Pacific region and our commitment to provide world-class financial infrastructure to support these expanding economies on behalf of the global SWIFT community, says Ian Johnston, CEO for Asia Pacific at SWIFT.
Next month, SWIFT will hold its annual Sibos conference in Osaka, Japan.
(CG)