insidethegames understands that the deficit for 2020 is currently projected at between CHF10 million (£8.3 million/$10.4 million/€9.3 million) and CHF20 million.

This would be after what is thought to have been a very slender loss in 2019 – a World Championship year.

The governing body also made a loss of just over CHF13 million (£10.8 million/$13.5 million/€12.1 million) in 2018, the most recent year for which audited financial statements are publicly available.

However, it is among the more asset-rich Summer Olympic International Sports Federations (IFs), with financial assets standing at just under CHF109 million (£90.5 million/$113.4 million/€101.4 million) at end-December 2018 and property of around CHF17 million (£14.1 million/$17.7 million/€15.8 million).

In common with nearly all other sports, FINA has suffered serious disruption to its planned event schedule as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.

In May it said it was pushing back the 2020 World Swimming Championships (25m), earmarked for Abu Dhabi, by approximately one year to December 2021.

It had already had to delay the 2021 World Aquatics Championships to avoid a clash with the postponed Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

These are now scheduled for May 2022 in the Japanese city of Fukuoka.

As a top-tier Summer Olympic sport, FINA would have been banking, prior to the pandemic, on receiving around $40 million (£32 million/€35.75 million) for the sport’s contribution to Tokyo 2020, with the bulk of this sum originally expected to materialise this coming September.

Given that payment, even under the best of scenarios, will now be delayed by a year, a 2020 deficit in the CHF10 million-CHF20 million range may be smaller than some might have expected.

The body has also just injected greater flexibility into its Olympic Aquatics Support Programme, with an emphasis on helping athletes now set to compete in Tokyo next summer.

This is expected to lead to some CHF4 million (£3.3 million/$4.15 million/€3.7 million) being distributed through National Federations and continental bodies.

A newly-published mid-term report on FINA's 2018-2021 strategic plan states that almost $20 million (£16 million/€17.9 million) was invested through the body's development programme in 2018 and 2019.

In spite of the challenging current sports sponsorship market, the new document also talks about initiating a process of developing new categories of FINA partners, as well as taking "initial steps for diversifying rights based on specific geographical markets".