SEPA Gateway
Second generation gateway solution provides an efficient and cost-effective migration into the single euro payments area…
Montran’s Gateway for SEPA Solution
The ability to produce solutions that are truly global yet fully flexible is what sets Montran apart. That ability can only be claimed by those whose experience in the financial market place matches their experience in system design and implementation.
The greatest challenge in developing Payment Solutions and related components is in producing standard solutions that can be installed universally, but retain the flexibility to adapt to the requirements of specific banks in different regions and in diverse businesses. Contemporary software, primarily Java EE and companion infrastructure models, has facilitated a task that was more challenging under legacy platforms.
Second Generation Payment Solutions
Montran offers Second Generation Payment Solutions for banks wishing to connect to one or many Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Clearing and Settlement services, or to communicate with each other and with their clients using SEPA compliant messages.
The Montran SEPA Gateway offers any bank an efficient and inexpensive solution for becoming SEPA compliant. It is a component of the Montran Global Payments Solutions (GPS) family of products and can be used either by itself, or with other GPS components and options to provide a complete solution for payments processing in the bank.
The SEPA Gateway comprises message / file processing components, routing components, monitoring and control functions and two categories of interfaces: internal and external.
The SEPA Gateway message and file processing components are responsible for message and file validation and for the format conversion/mapping between a number of standard (such as FIN, MX and PAIN) or proprietary formats and the SEPA (UNIFI ISO20022 XML PACS) formats.
The routing components control the reception, flow and delivery of messages and files, and perform routing between the Gateway entry and determined destination points. Rules-based payment direction employs SEPA Routing Tables.
Monitoring and control functions are for providing the Gateway operator and other bank users with both interactive and report-based facilities necessary for performing complete operational control. The Gateway maintains a complete audit trail of its processing.
Internal Interfaces
- Real-time (or batch) interfaces for transmission of messages or files between the Gateway and the Back Office or Cash Management systems in the bank. A number of messaging and file transfer protocols and infrastructure are supported including JMS-based messaging (e.g. IBM WebSphere MQ, Sun Message Queue, others), file-based, FTP and others.
- Interactive Web interface between operator stations at the headquarters of the bank (via the LAN) and its branches (via a WAN) over secure TCP/IP network using HTTPS.
External Interfaces
- Real-time interfaces for delivering messages and files between the Gateway and SEPA Clearing and Settlement Mechanisms (CSMs), other banks and clients of the bank.
- External interfaces can be either via the SWIFT Network using SWIFT FIN and SWIFTNet services such as FileACT, InterACT and Browse; or via a secure private network (VPN) using a number of messaging and file transfer protocols and infrastructure are supported, including JMS-based messaging, file-based, FTP and others.
Features- Security
Main Features for SEPA
The message and file processing components of the GPS Gateway for SEPA have been designed to support both ACH SEPA traffic to any number of SEPA CSMs or banks and optionally, Country specific ACH traffic to national (non-SEPA) ACH. The latter option is designed to assist banks through the SEPA transition period. The payment types that can be routed through the Gateway are:
- SCT (SEPA Credit Transfers)
- SDD (SEPA Direct Debits)
- Country specific ACH payments (optional)
The SEPA Gateway components and interfaces can be configured to the specific needs of the bank. Through its components and interfaces the Gateway performs:
- Reception of payment instructions
- SEPA compliance for validation and formatting of messages and files
- Validation, error detection and error reporting
- Mapping between standard and proprietary message formats including PAIN, PACS, XML, proprietary and SWIFT formats
- Validation of Direct Debit Mandates
- Party and Payment Field Enrichment
- Processing of payment instructions
- Managing queues and reception / delivery points
- Forwarding of payments to the CSMs or banks
- Positive and negative acknowledgement processing
- Maintaining a full audit trail
In addition the Gateway performs:
- Value Date and Cut‐off Processing
- Automates processing of R‐messages
- Payment Warehousing
- Disaster Recovery and Backup
The interfaces and routing functions of the Gateway support multiple indirect participants to CSMs.
Operator access to the Gateway is realized through secure access control to menu-driven monitoring and control functions that include:
- User access and profile management
- Monitoring of inward and outward payment instructions
- Monitoring and control of queues
- Monitoring of system activities
- Statistics and reporting
The Gateway supports interactive access from any number of stations in the bank headquarters and branches.
Additional Features
Additional functions available with the SEPA Gateway include:
- Message origination and repair functions
- Maintenance of Direct Debit Mandates
- Enhanced reporting
- Reconciliation
- Integration with GPS components for payment processing
The Gateway optionally supports multiple direct participants to SEPA CSMs. The SEPA Gateway may operate in a Multi-bank configuration.
Security
The Montran SEPA Gateway provides the highest level of protection and confidentiality of transaction information in the industry. The security standards are designed to meet or exceed those of the SWIFT network, even when not directly interfacing with SWIFT. Data access security is provided through both digital signature and encryption technology based on Public Key Technology. For any sensitive operation a four or even six‐eye approval policy is applied. Screens are designed to be user friendly and intuitive, with customizable menus by way of user profile functions. The system supports integration with an LDAP server as a Centralized User Repository, Single Sign On and two‐factor authentication.
