UANI Calls on SWIFT’s Board of Directors to Take Action to End SWIFT’s Relationships with Iranian Financial Institutions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 7, 2012 Contact: Nathan Carleton, press@uani.com Phone: (212) 554-3296 UANI Calls on SWIFT's Board of Directors to Take Action to End SWIFT's Relationships with Iranian Financial Institutions New York, NY - On Tuesday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) called on SWIFT's Board of Directors to take immediate action, to put SWIFT in compliance with U.S. and EU Iran sanctions law and its own corporate rules by ending SWIFT's relationships with Iranian banks and financial institutions. Last week, UANI submitted a detailed legal explanation to the Board's Chairman, Yawar Shah, explaining how SWIFT violates U.S. and EU sanctions--as well as SWIFT's own bylaws--by providing sanctioned Iranian banks with BICs and access to the SWIFT system. Immediately after UANI sent its letter to SWIFT, members of the U.S. Senate drafted and introduced an amendment that would sanction SWIFT. SWIFT, after initially defending its work with Iran, subsequently pledged to "find the right multilateral legal framework which will enable SWIFT to address the issues." UANI is now calling on SWIFT's Board of Directors to act, by ending SWIFT's relationships with Iranian banks and financial institutions. In separate letters to SWIFT's board members, sent last week along with a copy of UANI's original letter to Chairman Shah, UANI President, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, wrote: As a Board Member of SWIFT, we urge you to take immediate action to ensure SWIFT's compliance with applicable U.S. and EU sanction law and to ensure that SWIFT complies with its own rules related to corporate governance and membership eligibility. We have no doubt that you have not sought to oversee an institution that has been an enabling financial mechanism for the Iranian regime to pursue an illicit nuclear weapons program, support terrorist activities, and to engage in brutal human rights abuses. In recent months, however, the world has united in an effort to economically isolate the Iranian regime and to sanction its key industries. SWIFT must join that movement or risk continuing to run afoul of applicable sanctions law. Moreover, SWIFT jeopardizes its good reputation if it continues its work with Iran's financial institutions. UANI's letter was sent to the following members of SWIFT's Board of Directors: Stephen Zimmerman: Chief Operating Officer of the Wealth Management Division, UBS Guy Beniada: Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director, ING Udo Braun: Group Markets Operations, Commerzbank Fabrice Denele: Head of Payments, BPCE John Ellington: Director, Retail Banking Operations, The Royal Bank of Scotland Giorgio Ferrero: Head of Payment Systems Strategy and Development, Intesa Sanpaolo Goran Fors: Global Head of Custody Services, SEB Wolfgang Gaertner: Chief Information Officer, Deutsche Bank AG Gunther Gall: Head of Transactions Services Division, Raiffeisenbank International AG Alan Goldstein: Managing Director, Worldwide Securities Services, J.P. Morgan Rob Green: Chief Risk Officer, Global Transaction Services, Corporate and Investment Banking, FirstRand Bank Limited Finn Otto Hansen: Clearing and Settlement Strategies, DnB NOR Bank ASA Gerard Hartsink: Senior Advisor to the ABN AMRO Board, ABN AMRO Bank Yumesaku Ishigaki: General Manager, Transaction Services Division, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ John Laurens: Head of Global Payments and Cash Management, Asia-Pacific, HSBC Yves Maas: Head of International Operations, Credit Suisse Lynn Matthews: Chairman of the Australian National Member Group Godelieve Mostrey: Executive Director and Chief Technology and Services Officer, Euroclear Pochet Alain: Head of Clearing, Custody and Corporate Trust Services, BNP Paribas Javier Santamaria: Head of Finance Systems and Forums, Deputy General Manager, Banco Santander Jeffrey Tessler: Chief Executive Officer of Clearstream International, S.A. Marcus Treacher: Head of e-Commerce and Client Experience, Global Transaction Banking, HSBC Ingrid Versnel: Head, Wealth Management and Payments, Operations and Technology, Royal Bank of Canada Jee Hong Yee-Tang: Technology Advisor to ABS Click here to read UANI's full letter to SWIFT. Click here to read UANI's letter to individual members the Board of Directors. Click here to send a message to SWIFT. ### United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons. UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons. The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad; Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world; Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran; Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies; Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and; Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures. UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country.

Forward email American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran | 45 Rockefeller Plaza | New York | NY | 10111