Swift-Issued Certificates
Learn about Swift-issued Certificates and how to use them for API authentication
Swift-issued Certificates provide a secure way to authenticate your application when calling Swift APIs. These certificates are issued by Swift's Certificate Authority (CA) and are required for Live environment.
Overview
Swift-issued Certificates are different from self-signed certificates used in the Sandbox environment.
Swift-issued Certificates are X.509 digital certificates that:
- Authenticate your institution when making API calls
- Establish a secure connection with Swift's API gateway
- Are required for
PilotandLiveenvironments - Have a validity period and must be renewed before expiration
Prerequisites
Before requesting a Swift-issued certificate, ensure you have:
Swift membership — Your institution must be a Swift member or have a relationship with a Swift member.
O2M access — Access to the Order to Member (O2M) portal to request certificates.
Security officer approval — A security officer must approve certificate requests.
Once you have the necessary prerequisites, you can proceed with the certificate request process:
A full guide on how to request and manage Swift-issued Certificates can be found in the Swift Certificate Management Guide.
| Stage | Description |
|---|---|
| Request | Submit a certificate request through the O2M portal |
| Approval | Security officer approves the request and provides reference number and authorisation code |
| Generation | Generate a key pair and CSR (Certificate Signing Request) |
| Signing | Submit CSR to Swift CA for signing |
| Installation | Import the signed certificate into your keystore |
| Renewal | Renew before expiration (typically 2 years) |
Certificate storage
Protect your private key. Never share it or store it in version control.
Certificates and private keys should be stored securely:
- Keystore (JKS/PKCS12) — Standard Java keystore or PKCS12 format.
- Hardware Security Module (HSM) — For highest security requirements, only available for business certificates.
- Key Management Service (KMS) — Cloud-based key management.