SWIFT Agrees To Buy Financial Messaging System From SunGard, Staff Redeployed

Tom Burroughes

21 July 2010

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication has announced it is buying a high-volume financial messaging system from SunGard, the US financial software firm. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The service is called Ambit Messaging Hub. The transaction is subject to a number of closing conditions that are expected to be fulfilled by the end of the quarter, SunGard and SWIFT said in a statement.

The firms said the agreement is not expected to materially affect SunGard’s financial results.

The management and staff of SunGard’s Ambit Messaging Hub product line – about 20 employees - will transfer to a newly set-up SWIFT subsidiary as part of the deal and will be based in Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. The subsidiary will be led by Hans Cobben, who has been heading the group within SunGard.