Operating Systems: Concurrent and Distributed Software Design

30.3. International inter-bank payments: SWIFT

The discussion in the previous section has given some indication of the immense volume of EFT traffic. The implicit assumption was that the banks concerned were located in a single country, but many transactions involve the transfer of funds between countries. If you can find a garage when on holiday in the high Pyrenees it will almost certainly allow you to pay for your petrol by credit card. The supermarket in the provincial French town where you buy your holiday provisions will give you a choice of using a debit or a credit card.

The previous section described methods that are used for transactions involving a small amount of money. The methods described above would not be used for large sums. ...