SWIFT and Global Crossing Form Strategic Partnership

Hamilton, Bermuda: 6 February 2001 - SWIFT announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sub-contract its network operations to Global Crossing (NYSE:GX, BSX:GBLX.BH ). The partnership, which is worth a minimum of 300 Million USD in revenue to Global Crossing, enables SWIFT to sharpen its focus on messaging services, transaction processing and standards setting while at the same time ensuring a more robust offering for its member-customers. The partnership leverages the expertise and scale of Global Crossing to achieve the highest levels of availability, reliability and security for SWIFT's IP network while delivering lower costs and faster time to market.

Under the terms of the agreement, Global Crossing will manage the development and operation of SWIFT's Secure IP Network (SIPN) infrastructure, which will become a Virtual Private Network (VPN) within Global Crossing's existing IP extranet infrastructure. Global Crossing will also assume responsibility for maintaining SWIFT's current X.25 network, which over time will be replaced by the SIPN to provide a seamless and unified network to support SWIFT's global products and services.

Spurred by the financial industry's need for reduced costs and increased operational efficiency and Straight Through Processing (STP), the partnership between SWIFT and Global Crossing will enable the two companies to co-market, through a channel sales agreement, a broader range of networking services to SWIFT's customer base. Taking one step further the single-window access model that underpins its SWIFTNet services, SWIFT will now be able to provide its customers with a one-stop-shop for local loop access and managed customer premises equipment end-to-end, as well as broadband, Internet and VPN services.

"A key operations goal for SWIFT is to deliver secure, high-quality solutions to our customers as quickly as possible," said Joe Eng, SWIFT's Chief Information Officer. "Under this unique partnership arrangement, SWIFT will co-design, co-implement, co-test, and co-manage the network with Global Crossing, but our customers will continue to have a single provider, a single network and a single point of contact. It's a win-win-win situation."

"We are excited about working with SWIFT and its community," said Global Crossing's President and Chief Operating Officer, David Walsh. "We share a common vision with SWIFT to be the leading provider of global financial communications solutions. The combination of our unmatched fiber-optic network, our proven expertise in meeting the needs of the financial services industry, and now this extraordinary SWIFT opportunity, clearly signals our leadership in providing large scale, fully-managed intelligent IP communications networks."

In Asia, SWIFT's network operations will be co-managed by Asia Global Crossing, a subsidiary of Global Crossing.