SWIFT has launched the SWIFT Index UK, Germany, US and EU27. These four additional indices reinforce SWIFT’s Business Intelligence portfolio, and will act as leading indicators of national and regional gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
Following the same methodology used for the global and OECD series of the SWIFT Index, the new indices help forecast GDP growth in the UK, Germany, US and the EU27.
Andre Boico, Marketing Director at SWIFT, said: "Using the same methodology, in each case we have succeeded in producing forecasts that correlate closely with actual GDP growth. The proven reliability of our forecasts, which are based on actual payments message traffic, confirms that these new indexes will support business decision-making and make a unique contribution to economic modeling."
The growing complexity of the interconnected, global economy requires reliable predictive indicators of economic growth. But their value depends on a combination of factors: early availability, a robust and transparent methodology, relevant underlying data and wide geographical coverage. Most of the existing indicators do not match one or more of these criteria, SWIFT added.
The four new SWIFT indices will be available in Q1 2013. SWIFT will be presenting the new indices on October 30 2012 at its annual Sibos event, which is being hosted in Osaka, Japan.
