The Wave of Globalized Financial Investment
With the increasing activity of global capital markets and the deep integration of international financial systems, overseas investment has emerged as a cornerstone of asset allocation for Taiwanese investors. By the first eleven months of 2025, the cumulative transaction value of sub-brokerage in Taiwan reached a historic high of NT$9 trillion. In the midst of this global trend, TDCC, as a pivotal provider of Taiwan’s financial market infrastructure, not only shoulders the responsibility for information integration but also champions inclusive finance as its guiding principle. In 2024, TDCC launched the “SWIFT Alliance Cloud Migration Project,” aiming to leverage modernized financial infrastructure to optimize the efficiency of information transmission for cross-border custody sub-brokerage services and to build future-ready, high-performance international service capabilities.
Major Transformation: Why Choose SWIFT Alliance Cloud?
In promoting “local custody,” the primary challenge is to rapidly establish a highly flexible information system that aligns seamlessly with international standards. Compared with traditional on-premises architectures, SWIFT Alliance Cloud offers the following strategic advantages:
Multi-tenant SaaS (Software as a Service) model and rapid deployment: SWIFT Alliance Cloud is a multi-tenant application service hosted and operated by SWIFT. It enables clients to automatically send and receive various MT and MX messages, as well as FileAct files, significantly accelerated the infrastructure setup time for TDCC’s sub-brokerage operations.
Reduced maintenance burden and automated updates: System upgrades and standards maintenance are managed by SWIFT, ensuring that the infrastructure remains compliant with the latest international standards at all times. This not only alleviates TDCC’s hardware maintenance burden but also enables seamless alignment with the ISO 20022 international messaging standard.
Enhanced operational resilience: Following the successful migration, SWIFT message transmission volumes have increased to a daily throughput of 100,000 messages. This effectively supports the high-frequency operational demands of cross-border settlement and corporate action message processing.
Single Gateway to shorten operational chains: Through Alliance Cloud's cloud-based architecture, TDCC has transformed into a “single digital gateway” connecting Taiwan’s securities industry with international Central Securities Depositories (ICSDs) and overseas custodians. Domestic securities firms no longer need to establish complex communication links with multiple overseas custodians. Instead, through TDCC’s trading platform, they can complete transactions and deliver corporate action instructions to overseas custodians such as Euroclear and Clearstream via a one-stop service. This markedly enhances operational efficiency while making the adoption of new business patterns much more accessible.
Reduced operational costs: By migrating their positions, securities firms can leverage economies of scale through centralization, gaining access to more competitive messaging rates and single-window service. Regardless of size, securities firms can streamline their intricate system interfacing with ICSDs through standardized and automated processes. As a result, Taiwanese investors, regardless of the securities firm they choose, can enjoy secure, highly efficient, and internationally aligned custody services, which embody the true value of inclusive finance. This ensures that all Taiwanese investors, regardless of the firm they choose, benefit from secure, highly efficient, and globally-aligned custody services, which embody the essence of inclusive finance.
A Strong Shield: SWIFT’s Security and International Standards
In the development of financial infrastructure, information security is a non-negotiable prerequisite. When communicating with foreign custodians via SWIFT messages, any loss or tampering of message data could result in significant losses. Any loss or unauthorized alteration of SWIFT message data, during communicating with foreign custodians could lead to substantial losses.
SWIFT Alliance Cloud operates within a highly regulated cloud environment, ensuring that all settlement messages or reports transmitted by TDCC are protected by end-to-end encryption, thereby safeguarding against data tampering and unauthorized access.
Furthermore, all system changes require dual authentication via personal tokens, with the “four-eyes principle” strictly enforced to ensure that all critical administrative and messaging operations undergo dual verification.
In addition, TDCC has adopted SWIFT’s Customer Security Programme (CSP) framework to further strengthen both vertical and horizontal layers of cybersecurity defense. This provides TDCC with internationally recognized early warning system and robust protection capabilities against evolving global cyber threats.
Conclusion: Driving Services through Technology
As of January of the current year (2026), the market value of assets under TDCC’s sub-brokerage custody has exceeded USD 27.289 billion, covering securities, bonds, ETFs, structured notes, and other products across major global financial markets. This achievement represents more than volume growth; it signifies the emergence of a unified “national team” comprising TDCC and 15 securities firms.
The integration of SWIFT Alliance Cloud has not only strengthened TDCC’s core competitiveness but has also elevated the international credibility of Taiwan’s securities industry. Moving forward, we will continue to leverage our professional, efficient, and secure technical expertise, collaborating with the industry stakeholders to unlock the infinite possibilities of the global market together.
