Swift to Focus on IT at New Malaysian Hub

Financial messaging provider Swift today announced that it will establish a new Asia-Pacific corporate hub across Malaysia and Singapore.

Swift is creating an entirely new corporate services center in Kuala Lumpur, complementing similar centers in the US and Europe. It will focus on services such as IT development, qualification testing, support, finance, human resources and operational functions. Local hiring will start by the end of 2012.

Swift already has a presence in Singapore, but plans to increase its existing global marketing presence there over the next three years. Separately, there will be new hires for commercial functions in Singapore and elsewhere in the region to support regional growth.

"The new corporate hub is a key milestone that strongly supports our ambitious growth strategy for the region," says CEO Gottfried Leibbrandt. "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 in Asia Pacific for over 30 years, starting in Hong Kong and Singapore. This year, Australia and New Zealand will celebrate their 30th anniversaries on Swift, and India marked 20 years in 2011.