Bangalore: IT and BPO services firm Scandent Solutions today (Oct 18, 2004) said it would soon commission a "SWIFT service Bureau", claimed to be the first in the country.

SWIFT is a cooperative owned by banking and financial institutions in 20 countries that provides "secure and standardised" messaging service for financial transactions.

SWIFT is used by banks like Citibank, HSBC and ABN Amro and the service bureau will enable value-added processing of back-office operations as well as provide connectivity to SWIFTNET messaging in India, a Scandent statement said in Bangalore.

The Directors of SWIFT in Belgium and the National member group, which comprises the Indian Bank's Association, and the Reserve Bank of India have approved the SWIFT service bureau, it said.