ISBN 2 907587-11-02

Introduction
by Leonard H. Schrank, CEO, SWIFT

For several years now, SWIFT has invited PROMETHEE, a non-profit think tank, to add depth to the Sibos “critical dialogue” in the form of an annual book involving eminent regulators, central bankers, technology experts and financial leaders. PROMETHEE has been working for two decades on the global networked economy and The Economist has included them in its shortlist of “the world’s twenty good think tanks”. In line with priorities of the SWIFT community, the subjects covered have been the impact of networks on the working of financial institutionsand the business models emerging at the time whene-euphoria was beginning to be re-assessed.

Then came 9.11 and the needfor the financial industry to achieve much higher levels of resilience, the subject of the present book, Resilience and Value.

The first reason for SWIFT to sponsor the book is part of SWIFT’s own campaign to improve resilience in a more dangerous world than previously imagined – a world in which the worst threat is not a natural disaster but a coordinated attack on those infrastructures, institutions and symbols upon which the wealth of nations depends.

What is under threat is not any single specific network but our whole system, along with its people who work around the clock and around the world. Hence a second reason for SWIFT to sponsor this book, namely to contribute to a broader dialogue on how value creation can be protected in a world where the irrational, the obscure and the violent seeks its destruction.

Many of the issues under review here belong in SWIFT's sphere of professional competence, and the SWIFT Executive together with the newly created Corporate Resilience Department took an active role in the dialogue which went into this work. Yet resilience is a multidimensional subject and strong connections are required in the world of central banks, regulation, finance, insurance, and technology; and let's not forget the academic circles from which ideas emerge before they find their place in business life.

We hope you find Resilience and Value a valuable guide to improving your own resilience and look forward to working with you at Sibos and throughout the year to take our worldwide community to new levels of resilience.

Leonard H. Schrank
CEO, SWIFT
Brussels, Belgium
September 11, 2002