National Bank of Georgia says no basis for disconnecting from SWIFT

The National Bank of Georgia on Wednesday issued a statement declaring that there was no basis for disconnecting Georgia’s financial system from the SWIFT global financial messaging network.

The Bank emphasised the sector’s transparency, full compliance with international sanctions regimes, and growing investor confidence.

“The Georgian banking and financial sectors consistently comply with both Georgian legislation and international sanctions regimes. Within the framework of both on-site and remote supervision, the National Bank of Georgia continuously carries out the relevant oversight processes. Our foreign partners positively assess the Georgian banking and financial sector’s full compliance with sanctions regimes. The level of compliance with international standards in preventing money laundering is high, as confirmed by the evaluations of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts (MONEYVAL). Additionally, the National Bank of Georgia’s efforts to align the financial system and legislation with European regulations consistently receive positive evaluations”, the statement said.

The National Bank also emphasised its ongoing efforts to harmonise Georgian legislation with European standards, stating that these initiatives had received positive evaluations.

“The system is notably transparent, and as a result, investor confidence in it is increasing. Considering all of the above, we would like to emphasise that there is no basis for disconnecting the Georgian financial system from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)”, the statement said.