Global banking system to unveil security plan

The SWIFT secure messaging service that underpins international banking said it plans to launch a new security program as it fights to rebuild its reputation in the wake of the Bangladesh Central Bank heist.

Chief executive of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, Gottfried Leibbrandt, was scheduled to tell a financial services conference in Brussels that SWIFT will launch a five-point plan later this week.

Banks send payment instructions to one another via SWIFT messages. In February thieves hacked into the SWIFT system of the Bangladesh bank, sending messages to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York allowing them to steal $81 million.