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The West has cut off a number of Russian banks from SWIFT – the most popular interbank messaging mechanism in the world – in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Founded in 1973,
SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) is a Belgium-based cooperative of banks that provides the means to communicate rapidly, securely, and inexpensively. The
Clearing House Interbank Payments System, or CHIPS, is a US-based group of 43 financial institutions in 19 countries which settle payments often with the help of SWIFT. Russian banks can
still settle cross-border payments using other ways to communicate, including encrypted telegrams and even email. But these methods are inefficient and costly. In such a scenario,
alternative payments and communications systems have the opportunity to step up, especially China's Cross-Border Interbank Payment System or CIPS.