Swift Announces Expansion of Flagship Sibos Event as It Names Paris and Dubai Future Hosts

Business Wire

a day ago

BRUSSELS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Swift today named host cities for its global flagship event, Sibos, up until the end of the decade, and announced an expansion of the premier financial conference to strengthen financial inclusivity for growing economies across Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
Following Frankfurt (2025), Miami (2026), and Singapore (2027), Paris will host Sibos for the first time in 2028 – a milestone year marking five decades since inception of the conference. The French capital employs around 340,000 people in the financial industry, according to Paris Europlace, among the highest of any financial hub in Europe.
Dubai will follow with hosting duties in 2029. The Middle East is a key strategic region in global finance, bridging Europe, Asia and Africa - facilitating trade and investment flows. Dubai - often referred to as the Gateway to Africa because of this strategic location - is home to the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a global hub that has grown significantly since its foundation in 2004. The DIFC is now home to almost 7,000 businesses as well as the majority of the Gulf Co-operation Council's fintech industry.
The 2029 edition will also initiate a new rotation for Sibos. The global event has traditionally rotated among established financial centres in three regions: Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. Beginning with Dubai, Swift will hold the event every 4 th year in growing economies across Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, to better reflect the diversity and inclusivity of its global infrastructure that serves more than 11,500 institutions in over 200 countries and territories.
Rosemary Stone, Chief Corporate Officer at Swift, said: 'Swift is a convener of and for the global financial industry and as the breadth of our network continues to grow, we're delighted to be able to expand Sibos to more locations around the world. No other event brings the industry together on the same scale as Sibos, and the addition of even more perspectives to the event's debates and discussions will be increasingly valuable as the industry navigates rapid technological change and the growing risk of fragmentation.'
The Sibos expansion comes as Swift's infrastructure is used more than ever. Swift recorded record traffic last year and the highest year-on-year growth in 15 years, underlining its growing utility to institutions around the world.
Sibos, which was first convened in 1978, creates an opportunity for the Swift community to come together to exchange ideas, debate and collaborate in the areas of payments, securities, cash management and trade. It regularly attracts more than 10,000 delegates from the financial services sector. Host cities are selected through a competitive bidding process several years ahead of the event. As well as being a financial centre, key considerations include both technological and logistical infrastructure, as well as having a conference venue that is large enough to host a large scale event.
In 2020 Sibos went digital as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and virtual attendance has remained an option since the event resumed in-person in 2022.
About Swift
Swift is a global member owned cooperative and the world's leading provider of secure financial messaging services. We provide our community with a platform for messaging and standards for communicating, and we offer products and services to facilitate access and integration, identification, analysis and regulatory compliance.
Our messaging platform, products and services connect more than 11,500 banking and securities organisations, market infrastructures and corporate customers in more than 200 countries and territories. While Swift does not hold funds or manage accounts on behalf of customers, we enable our global community of users to communicate securely, exchanging standardised financial messages in a reliable way, thereby supporting global and local financial flows, as well as trade and commerce all around the world.
As their trusted provider, we relentlessly pursue operational excellence; we support our community in addressing cyber threats; and we continually seek ways to lower costs, reduce risks and eliminate operational inefficiencies. Our products and services support our community's access and integration, business intelligence, reference data and financial crime compliance needs. Swift also brings the financial community together – at global, regional and local levels – to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest or concern.
Headquartered in Belgium, Swift's international governance and oversight reinforces the globally inclusive character of its cooperative structure. Swift's global office network ensures an active presence in all the major financial centres.