Global remittances product writeup

GLOBAL REMITTANCES

PRODUCT WRITE UP

By: Partho H. Chakraborty

Author: Partho H. Chakraborty

VERSION CONTROL LOG

Version Date Prepared By Remarks
1.0 21/09/2005 Partho

Global Remittances - Product Write up Document Version 1.0 Page 2 of 18


Table of Contents
1 OBJECTIVE OF THE DOCUMENT ................................................................................. 4
2 GLOBAL REMITTANCES................................................................................................. 5
3 OVERVIEW OF GLOBAL REMITTANCES .................................................................. 6
3.1 BENEFITS OF GLOBAL REMITTANCES .......................................................................................... 6
4 PROCESS FLOW ................................................................................................................. 7
WEBSITE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................ 8
4.1 MENU DESIGNER ................................................................................................................... 8
4.2 LAYOUT MANAGER ................................................................................................................. 8
5 FUNCTIONAL FLOW ........................................................................................................ 9
5.1 PAYMENT CHANNELS .............................................................................................................. 9
5.2 PLAYERS ............................................................................................................................ 9
5.3 TRANSACTION....................................................................................................................... 9
5.4 COSTS .............................................................................................................................. 10
5.5 CUSTOMER LOYALTY ............................................................................................................ 10
5.6 TIME FRAME ....................................................................................................................... 10
5.6.1 For Bank to Receive Clear Funds or Guaranteed Credit before Remittance....... 10
5.6.2 For Bank to Remit Funds ...................................................................................... 10
5.7 FLOAT INCOME.................................................................................................................... 11
5.8 ACCOUNTING ENTRIES .......................................................................................................... 11
5.9 UNIQUE TRACKER ................................................................................................................ 11
5.10 UNPAID REMITTANCES .......................................................................................................... 11
5.11 INTEGRATOR ..................................................................................................................... 12
5.11.1 Integration with the Host System .......................................................................... 12
5.11.2 Integration with the Partner Banks....................................................................... 13
5.11.3 Integration with Cards .......................................................................................... 13
6 USER ADMINISTRATION .............................................................................................. 14
7 SECURITY .......................................................................................................................... 15
8 FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE .................................................................................. 17



1 Objective of the Document
The objective of this document is to give an overview of Global Remittances. The document highlights the Global
Remittances product for servicing needs of a bank or a financial institution.

Global Remittances enables users to integrate with different banks and payment systems thereby making these
services accessible to the bank’s customers. The core objective is to provide a single window to support different
payment methods through various payment channels enabling the customer to remit funds to anyone in any part of
the world.

The document is structured in a manner that details the functionalities being provided by Global Remittances and
how the product addresses the business needs of the banks by providing convenient payment channels.



2 Global Remittances

Remittances are the money that foreign-born workers send to their relatives and/or communities back home. The
volume of global remittance flows is difficult to estimate since many countries have inadequate processes by which to
report on funds sent back by foreign workers. The World Bank estimate that remittance flows totaled $93 billion in
2003, exceeding ODA ($58 bn) and net debt flows ($44 bn). While many believe this underestimates actual flows,
other experts feel it is an overstatement with one USAID expert calculating them to be in the range of $20 billion
annually.

Regardless of the amount, there is widespread agreement that the volume of such flows is increasing on an annual
basis. In many countries, remittance flows exceed FDI and represent increasingly large percentages of GDP. The
U.S. is the largest source country, with $31 billion of remittance outflows annually, followed by Saudi Arabia with $15
billion. Remittance volume is not surprisingly greater to large countries, with Mexico, India and the Philippines the
top three recipients in terms of volume in 2003. However, remittances represent a larger portion of GDP to small
countries, with Tonga, Lesotho and Jordan as the top three recipients in percentage of GDP terms for 2003.
Globally, remittances represent 2.9% of the GDP of low-income countries

Remittances are becoming an increasingly important resource for developing countries, and are receiving greater
attention from development experts. Remittances have been perceived negatively in the past because their primary
use is for consumption. However, this has changed in light of increasing evidence that remittances can promote
poverty alleviation, economic growth, increased investment and community development.

Remittance flows can have both positive and negative consequences that should be taken into consideration. On the
downside, increased hard currency flows can result in exchange rate appreciation, inflation, and higher interest rates,
creating what is termed “Dutch disease” and deterring investment. These flows can also create dependency and
raise inequality in recipient countries.

On the positive side, such flows are stable, create no liability, as is the case with debt, increase both consumption
and investment, and are often used for health care and education, thus having a direct development impact on the
recipient. Furthermore, encouraging the use of formal channels for remittances can create a source of capital for
investment activities, which can lower the cost of capital and increase the savings rate in a country.

Beyond direct person-to-person transfers, there are other important ways that Diaspora’s remittances can support
development objectives. These include increased FDI, technology transfer, and enhanced trade relations. Diaspora
communities have engaged in creating business networks, supporting investment promotion efforts, directly funding
infrastructure projects, and providing training and voluntary consultancies. These have direct implications for income
and job creation activities.

The APAC region accounts for $21 billion of more than $126 billion in global remittances.

Global remittances contribute significantly to economic growth, but these flows can be restricted by
regulatory or technological barriers that raise the cost of or reduce access to remittance services.



3 Overview of Global Remittances
The aim of Global Remittances is to offer the customer a wide choice of delivery channels, each designed to suite the
customer’s convenience and also to be able to deliver the funds to any individual in any location of his choice. Global
Remittances is a banking solution, which offers the bank’s customers various delivery channels, providing the
customer the convenience to send remittances from his office, home and in today’s wireless technology even when
on the road. Global Remittances is a versatile and powerful banking platform that fully exploits the various
remittances scenario to boost a bank's relationship with customers.

Global Remittances empowers a Bank to provide an integrated online financial service to its customers using the
Internet. It serves as a front end for the bank thus enabling the bank to offer single point access to various value
added products and services to its customers. The services can be accessed by establishing secured connections to
the bank’s website using Internet browser software. Global Remittances can be easily interfaced with the bank
backend processors for accounting entries.

3.1 Benefits of Global Remittances
• The System can integrate with any back - end system and providing these services over the Internet for bank’s
customers
• Very convenient and very easy to operate.
• Industry standard Java powered and Web enabled architecture for ease of deployment, high interoperability
and simplified maintenance.
• Scalable system to ensure it keeps pace with growing customer base.
• Highly secure System and controls provided through definable access rights based on roles.Provide financial
services being offered by the bank to its customers in a 24X7 online business enabler.
• The system can link up with various banks all across the globe as well as with various banks in a particular
country. For example it can link up with 10 banks in USA, 60 banks throughout Europe with the host bank,
enabling the customer to access any of these 70 banks to remit funds to Thailand and in various currencies.
• Apart from banks it can integrate with VISA, MasterCard, Discoverer, etc. to offer its customers payment
through plastic money.
• By handling online transactions through low cost delivery channels of internet, Global Remittances not only
reduces transaction and administrative costs for the banks but also gives the bank's customers increased
flexibility, convenience and control over their financial transactions facilitating optimized channel efficiency.
• By implementing a single window to support consumer, business, and trade clients; banks can leverage their
IT infrastructure investments across multiple market segments comprising of retail and corporate customers.



4 Process Flow

Linked to Host Bank

Bank Bank
(Electronic) (Paper)

Instructions Payment Clearing Payment

Paper
Host Host Bank
Logs on Bank’s Plastic Partner Bank
Payer to Website Website Wire Transfer
Electronic SWIFT

Instructions Approval

Courier
Bankers Cheque
A/C Credited
Bank
(Plastic)

A/C Credited
Correspondent Bankers Cheque Payee
Bank
Courier

Remote Location
Payment

Post Office



5 Website Design and Development
______________________________________________________________________________

Global Remittances have been designed keeping in view that the any one with a basic understanding of using the
Internet can log on the website and do a fund transfer.

It is designed with the aim to simplify procedure and giving the customer various payment options. The beauty of this
product is the simplicity, which makes it very easy and convenient for any customer to remit funds.

5.1 Menu Designer
Global Remittances comes with a Menu Designer utility that facilitate the bank to define the different menu options for
its Internet Banking Application, which will be accessible by bank’s customers. This functionality enables users to
integrate the business Service with Internet Banking application. The menu takes care of different payment channels
and gives the customer to select any one or all of it to make a payment.

5.2 Layout Manager
Global Remittances comes with templates of different Layouts. There is a Master Template, which captures all the
details of the Payer/Payee and their respective banks. Then for each payment method there would be a different
template. The customer can use these pre-defined templates to make a payment.

There would be a separate template for history of al transactions whereby the customer can go back and see all the
details of remittances made by him.



6 Functional Flow

6.1 Payment Channels

Payment Channels can be of the following types:

Paper Based – Cheques, Bankers Cheques
Plastic – Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Smart Cards
Electronic – Wire Transfers

6.2 Players

1. The Payer or Remitter of Money
2. The Payee or Receiver of Money
3. The Host Bank which receives the remittance from the Partner Bank and in turn remits the payment to the
Payee
4. The Partner bank abroad, which receives payments from the Payer and in turn remits them to the Payee’s
Bank
5. The Paying Bank, which sends the funds as per the Payer’s Instructions to the Partner Bank
6. Courier or Postal Authorities for clearing and dispatching paper based instruments
7. Correspondent Banks to make payments in locations where the Receiving Bank
8. Post Offices in Remote Locations

6.3 Transaction

1. The payer registers with the bank through the net.
2. The Payer initiates the transaction, wherein he logs on to the site and sends an instruction to remit funds.
This could be either Paper Based or Plastic Based or Electronic Based.
3. If the Payer pays by Paper Based Instruments then the payment will be made to the Partner Bank, which
will present the instruments for clearing and after getting clear funds, will then remit the funds
4. If the Payer pays by Plastic Money, then he will have to give instructions on the website to deduct the
amount from his card along with his card details. On getting authorization from VISA, Master Card or any
other issuer the Partner Bank will remit the funds
5. For wire transfers the Payer would give instructions to his bank through Global Remittances website to debit
his account and credit the Partner’s bank account. On successful receipt of funds the partner bank remits
the funds.
6. On receipt of funds the Host Bank will credit the Payees account if the Payee banks with it.
7. If the Payee is not banking with it then the Payee’s account can be credited through:
a. A Banker’s Cheque, which can be sent by courier
b. Correspondent Bank – If the Payee banks with it then his account can be credited or The
Correspondent bank can print a banker’s cheque and give it to the Payee.
c. For Remote Locations courier or Registered Mail can be used to send a Bankers Cheque. Post
Offices can also be used to make payments in Remote Locations



6.4 Costs

Costs can be divided as follows:

1. Cost of Clearing Paper Based Instruments
2. Commissions to be paid for Plastic Money to issuers
3. Wire Transfer Costs
4. Courier/Postal Charges
5. Correspondent Bank Charges
6. Account Maintenance Charges
7. Return Instrument Costs
8. Unpaid Instruments

The costs can be fixed or flexible as per the convenience of the bank. The bank at its discretion can charge adhoc
charges or waive charges or even charge a fixed amount irrespective of the amount. It can also charge the customer
(The Payer) a penalty amount for return of cheques (Cheques Dishonoured).

Apart from the above-mentioned charges the bank can define and levy any charge they want.

The bank can lay down the minimum and maximum amount to be remitted in one single go or within 24 hours.

6.5 Customer Loyalty

Global Remittances would have a unique customer loyalty program, whereby the customer would earn points for
each remittance he makes. For example if the customer sends 10 payments then the 11th payment could be done at
a reduced charge or even free of cost.

Customer Loyalty Points would be a flexible system, which would be defined by the bank. The bank would have the
option to define the points for each transaction.

6.6 Time Frame

6.6.1 For Bank to Receive Clear Funds or Guaranteed Credit before Remittance

Paper Based:
Cheques: 7 Days
Bankers Cheque: 1 Day

Plastic Money: 3 Day
Wire Transfer: 1 Day

6.6.2 For Bank to Remit Funds

Paper Based: Up to 10 Days depending upon Location
Plastic Money: 1 Day
Wire Transfers: 1 Day



6.7 Float Income

There would be a float income for both the banks – the partner bank and the receiving bank. These float income can
be calculated and the fee could be shared as per the banks arrangement. There will also be a float income for the
correspondent bank and the post offices especially in remote locations

6.8 Accounting Entries

Global Remittances would be integrated with the bank’s back-end process, which would capture all payment entries.
The actual fund transfers would be done from the partner bank, as all payments would be received by it.

The system would have a Ledger entry, whereby al entries would be posted in it. It would calculate the following:

1. Charges to be debited to the customer
2. Float Income

The charges to the customer would include all the charges as applicable and defined under costs.

6.9 Unique Tracker

Global Remittances would have an unique tracking system, whereby the customer can track the remittance till receipt
by the payee. The system would show reflect the various points depending where the remittance is. For example if
the payment is made by a cheque and the partner bank puts it for clearing then it would show “In Clearing”. If the
payee were in a remote location then it would show that the remittance is at the post office. Till the courier or the
postal authorities do not deliver the Proof of Delivery Note to the host bank the bank would not be able to show that
payment has been effected.
The tracker would be on line and can be accessed by the Payer as well the Payee making it very convenient as it
would update the status of the remittance till the Payee receives the funds.

The payer would get a confirmation over the Internet once the remittance has been effected and it would show up on
the History section of his account.

All paid as well unpaid remittances and modifications would show up in the history page of the payer

6.10 Unpaid Remittances

Any remittance which cannot be paid for whatsoever reason such as wrong name, incorrect address, wrong account
number, etc. would lie with the host bank and the float income would be the income of the host bank. The payer
would be informed over the Internet that payment could not be effected due to whatsoever reason and that he would
have to enter the details once again.

If a banker’s cheque has been printed with the wrong particulars then it would mean reprinting the cheque once
again. In some cases the courier would come back with the instrument due to incorrect address. This would entail
reprinting and resending the instruments at an additional cost to the Payer. Here the host bank will calculate the
charges and deduct it from the new instrument and send the balance to the payee.

In case if the remittance has to be returned back then the return process would be debiting the host bank and
crediting the partner bank after deducting the wire transfer and other charges. The partner bank in turn would debit its
account and credit the payer’s account after deducting its charges.



6.11 Integrator
Global Remittances is a web-based solution offered to the customer to make remittances. Integrator is a solution for
integrating front-end with back-end business applications in an online scenario. Integrator helps in interfacing with
multiple Partner Bank systems, Card Systems with the Host system, which responds back via different
communication channels. Interfacing between Integrator and various systems can be configured on Integrator to
send/receive messages in different formats via different communication channels. User is able to define the different
services in the Integrator and can define the transaction management associated with service. Integrator helps the
User to define the mapping of business service with the message formats and corresponding communication layers
(underlying protocols for communication) that should be used with the Host system.

Integrator comes with a rich functionality of parallel processing in which the Integrator is able to handle transactions
(Business Services) that requires service from multiple systems having different communication layer. System has
the provision to invoke these sub transaction in parallel to achieve fast response. The System then consolidates
these responses from different systems and provides one response as applicable.

In case of a scenario where a request has been initiated by the customer and the Integrator has passed the request
to the Partner Bank System for response during which there is a network failure, then the Integrator has the capability
of roll back the partial response being sent by the Partner Bank System thus helping in the data integrity and sanctity
in the systems.

Integrator consists of the three core functional components as mentioned below:
i. Transaction Manager
The Transaction Manager is the initiation point in the Integrator and is the first point of contact for all transactions of
Global Remittances. The Transaction Manager uses the Message Engine to format messages and Communication
Engine to communicate with remote partner banks, host banks as well as Card Issuers.

ii. Message Engine
Message Engine is used to format the messages in the way that all the remote systems can understand.
Formatting of messages in the Message Engine is done using predefined message format configurations. The
Message Engine is able to parses and construct the message structure and also able to reformat multiple output
format with single input format i.e. consolidation of response from the Host system. It also supports GUI based
format management. The message structure supported in the Message Engine

iii. Communication Engine
The Communication Engine component of the integrator is used to communicate with any remote system. The
Communication Engine establishes a peer-to-peer network communication with heterogeneous systems thus helps
in providing a common interface for accessing the services of the different protocols. It supports communication
with the Host or Satellite systems through the following communication channels

6.11.1 Integration with the Host System

Global Remittances would be integrated with the host system such that all payment entries would be reflected in the
host system. This would enable the host bank to track all payments and match it against the remittance received.
Thus the host bank would be able to be in control of all the remittances.

There would be only one host system, which would be the host bank system



6.11.2 Integration with the Partner Banks

Global Remittances would be integrated with all the partner banks. This could be a single integration if there is only
one Partner Bank, and where there are multiple partner banks there would be multiple integration.

This integration would facilitate the Payer to use any one of the partner banks depending upon his convenience to
effect a payment. For example the Payer could be in London but his bank could be Citibank, in New York, whereas
the Partner Bank is say HSBC, Chicago. The Payer can log on to the bank’s website and give instructions for a wire
transfer. The partner bank will receive the payment from HSBC and in turn send the remittance to the host bank.

This makes time and distance redundant.

6.11.3 Integration with Cards

Global Remittances would be integrated with all the issuer of cards, thus giving the customer one more access to
make payments. The system would be integrated and would use the secured lines provided by VISA, Master Card,
etc. to receive authorization before making a remittance.

The following diagram illustrates the transaction being performed on multiple remote systems via different
communication channels. In case a Payment Instruction request has been initiated by the customer from the Global
Remittances website which needs to be updated in the Partner Banks, Cards and Hot Bank System then depending
on the communication channel available, Integrator is capable of sending the request for payments to the respective
system through the different communication channels such as MQ, LU etc.

However, the communication between Integrator and all the other products from Nucleus has tighter integration at
the database level.

Partner Bank 1 -
Cheques
MQ
I
Global N
Payment Instructions LU
Remittances T Card Issuers
Website E
LU
G
R
Partner Bank 2 –
A
Wire Transfer
T
O
R



7 User Administration
Global Remittances maintain both internal users and the external users. The internal users are the users of who are
responsible for developing the Internet Banking Application and their administration. The internal users are the Host
Bank. The external users are the users of Global Remittances and comprises of both the retail and the corporate
customers of the bank. User Maintenance in the Global Remittances application helps the bank to define and
maintain both the internal and the external Users.

The example of Roles can be Supervisor Role, Manager Role, etc. in a bank. Group. Role Maintenance feature in
Global Remittances allow the User to define the mapping of Group and Role. These Group and Role will be
displayed based on the Organization selected by the User. This mapping can also have many-many relationship.

The Menu Mapping Maintenance allow the User to define mapping of Group - Role with the menu of the System
thereby maintaining the access rights for menu and privileges for users present in different groups. This mapping can
also have many-many relationship as shown below in the diagram:

MENU 1 USER 1

MENU 2 Group-Role 1 USER 2

MENU 3 USER 3

MENU 1 USER4

MENU 4 Group-Role 2 USER 5

MENU 5 USER 6

As shown in the diagram above, User 1, User 2 and User 3 belong to the same group with the identical roles. These
Users are provided the access for Menu1, Menu 2 and Menu 3 with the help of Group - Role - Menu Mapping
Maintenance feature. As shown above, one menu can be mapped to multiple groups - role combination and vice
versa. Also, one User can be present in only one group-role though one group - role can have multiple Users.

User will enter the Global Remittances Internet Application’s URL, which will prompt a login page to enter the User ID
and Password. User will enter a valid User ID and Password in the login screen and will submit the page. Once login
request received by System, it will authenticate the User ID and Password. System will display the home page
showing all the assigned menu options to the respective user in Global Remittances Internet Banking Application.



8 Security
It is essential for any Internet Banking Application to be protected from malicious destruction and unauthorized
access. Global Remittances supports the industry security standards for secure transactions and provide integration
with a variety of security devices giving Bank the flexibility to opt for the preferred device for additional security.
Global Remittances is built on the most secure Internet infrastructure available in the world today including SSL and
PKI. It also empowers the Banks to differentiate between the Security layers and or the Security mechanism based
on the customer preference and / or the function being accessed. The end result is a system that provided a fast and
convenient way of banking on the Internet. It incorporated features like secured banking sessions with login and
password protection, encryption (SSL), authentication (Digital Certificates), load balancing and multi-tier architecture.

Global Remittances comes with a strong Application Security Shell and maintainable option to control the access on
the various operations of the System with fine granularity. There are two different Application Security Shell in the
Global Remittances as mentioned below:

i. Application Security Shell for Global Remittances -- This Shell takes care for security mechanism for Global
Remittances where User will define the Internet Banking Application.

ii. Application Security Shell for Internet Banking Application -- This Shell takes care for security mechanism for
Internet Banking Application where bank’s customer will access the Internet Banking Application.

Application Security in Global Remittances is provided with Sun JES Application Server Edition 8 Infrastructure
Security. Data transmission web client is SSL 128 bit HTTPS. An optional facility of Public Key Interface using Digital
Certificates is also provided in the System for enhanced security. Data transmission from Global Remittances to Host
system is through secured connectivity by Queue Manager.

Key features of the System are as follows:

 Access to the System is strictly after verifying valid User code and password. Password is encrypted using
standard DES/SHA/SSHA algorithms.
 The only entry point into the System is through the login screen, i.e. none of the pages can be accessed directly
by typing their URL in the browser address bar.
 The access to the System is granted on the basis of the role assigned to the particular group to which the User
belongs.
 As access to the System depends on the valid user code and password, if a User enters incorrect password N
number of times (parameterized), the User account gets locked / disabled. Only a supervisor level role User
having access to security module can unlock the User.
 If the User forgets the password then the supervisor can reinitialize the password to default password, which the
User has to change on next logon.
 Also the System forces the User to change the password parameterized number of days prior to expiry date.
 Once the User logs into the System, User cannot use the same user code to login from the same terminal or
different terminal. If the User exits from application without proper logoff from Application, System will auto log
the User from the System once the user session expires.



 Automatic log out after certain period of time if no activity is performed by User or Customer.
 Also the User can specify the E-mail ID where mail can be sent in case a User is disabled and the E-mail ID from
where mail can be sent.



9 Functional Architecture



Note: Names if any, are Suggestive only and without any relation to any real
entity whatsoever. It is only to give a feel and touch of how transactions
can be structured and names are indicative

This article is meant for education purposes only and it is not be
reproduced for any commercial purpose by print or electronic medium
whatsoever

This case study is written by:

Partho H. Chakraborty
A - 305, DSR Spring Beauty Apts., 124/1, ITPL Main Road, Brookefields, Kundalahalli, Bangalore - 560
037, India
Tel: +91 80 420 50293, Cell: +91 99863 22504
email: parthohc@airtelmail.in; parthohc@rediffmail.com
Skype: parthohc01


Global remittances product writeup

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Destaque

Destaque (20)

Semelhante a Global remittances product writeup

Semelhante a Global remittances product writeup (20)

Mais de Partho Chakraborty

Mais de Partho Chakraborty (6)

Último

Último (20)

Global remittances product writeup