WO2003005257A2

WO2003005257A2 - A method of processing a financial transaction and displaying financial transaction information to a user

Info

Publication number: WO2003005257A2
Application number: PCT/IB2002/001667
Authority: WO
Inventors: James Bradley Gillis; Jacobus Hendrikus Janse Van Rensburg
Original assignee: Firstrand Bank Limited
Priority date: 2001-06-28
Filing date: 2002-05-16
Publication date: 2003-01-16
Also published as: WO2003005257A8

Abstract

A method of processing a financial transaction and displaying financial transaction information to a user includes the steps of receiving at a server payslip data representing an employee's payment details including the amount the employee is being paid and any deductions made from the amount. Receiving at the server payment data representing any other payments the employee wishes to have made from the total amount. The payment mechanisms of a financial institution are then used to effect these other payments and the remainder of the amount, after the deductions and payments have been made, are paid in cash via one of the financial institutions delivery channels or electronically credited to an account of the employee at the same or another financial institution. Once this has been completed, the payslip data and payment data are stored in a memory device and the employee is provided with access to view the stored payslip data and payment data via a communication network.

Description

A METHOD OF PROCESSING A FINANCIAL TRANSACTION AND DISPLAYING FINANCIAL TRANSACTION INFORMATION TO A USER

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

THIS invention relates to a method of processing a financial transaction and displaying financial transaction information to a user.

Traditionally, payroll and banking have been seen as separate functions. Transactions are processed from both environments with the payroll historically catering for earnings transactions such as basic salary, car allowance, overtime and statutory deductions such as Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), tax, pension etc.

Non-statutory deductions are processed via the individual's bank account. These include debit orders (pull transactions), stop orders (push transactions), cheques and cash withdrawals.

In recent years, life insurers and micro lenders have targeted the payroll for their non-statutory debit order deductions. The reason for this is primarily because the individuals often do not have bank accounts. In addition, deductions from the payroll offer the insurer and micro lender greater success of collection as their deduction or debit order has preference over a debit order that is made from a bank account.

Therefore, an individual is likely to have a payslip and a bank account, both of which manage a variety of earnings and deductions transactions. The payslip will handle gross earnings transactions, statutory deduction transactions and perhaps some non-statutory deduction transactions. The net position after these transactions have been processed is then invariably transferred into a bank account, from which further transactions are effected. For individuals, this essentially means that they have to continually maintain and reconcile at least two accounts that reflect their financial affairs.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to effectively merge these two accounts into a single account in the form of a single transactive managed account.

Furthermore, the present invention aims to provide a real-time or near real-time feed from the payroll to the employee and/or employer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention there is provided a method of processing a financial transaction and displaying financial transaction information to a user, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving payslip data representing an employee's payment details including the amount the employee is being paid and any deductions made from the amount;

receiving payment data representing any other payments the employee wishes to have made from the total amount;

effecting the other payments using the payment mechanisms of a financial institution; paying the employee the remainder of the amount, after the deductions and payments have been made;

storing the payslip data and payment data in a memory device; and

providing the employee with access to view the stored payslip data and payment data via a communication network.

The step of paying is either in cash or electronically crediting an account of the employee at the same or another financial institution, and occurs on a predetermined payday.

Preferably, the employee is given access to create, edit and/or delete payment data.

The communication network via which the employee is given access to view their stored payslip data and payment data may be one or more of the Internet, a communications network located at a branch of the financial institution, an Automatic Teller Machine network or a mobile telephone communications network.

The payslip data may include deductions made by an employer from the employees' payment, such as tax payments, pension fund payments, medical aid payments and any other payment deducted from an employees' salary by an employer.

The other payments may be any third party payment requested by the employee or a third party authorised to request such payments, a stop order or a debit order. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overview of the present invention;

Figure 2 a flowchart describing, at a high level, how the present invention works;

Figure 3 is a block diagram of the system implementing the present invention;

Figure 4 is a flowchart illustrating the steps carried out by the payroll service provider interface illustrated in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a flowchart illustrating the steps carried out by the employee payslip module of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a flowchart illustrating the steps carried out by the employee payment admin module of Figure 3;

Figure 7 is a flowchart illustrating the steps carried out by the variable amount deductions interface of Figure 3;

Figure 8 is a flowchart illustrating the steps carried out by the employee payslip module of Figure 3;

Figure 9 is a flowchart illustrating the steps carried out by the loan management module of Figure 3; and

Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the technical architecture of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Figure 1 illustrates a block diagram overview of the context in which the present invention operates.

An employer 10 provides payroll data to a payroll service provider 12 via a communications network, typically the Internet 14.

A payroll service provider 12 is either a legal entity which provides a service to employers 10 by administering, to some degree, the employers payroll or a department or subsidiary of the employer 10 which provides a service to employers 10 by administering, to some degree, the employers payroll.

The payroll service provider 12 will typically provide a computer system onto which the details of the employees salaries can be captured. For each employee 22 this system will allow the employer to capture the salary that the employee will be paid along with any deductions, such as tax, which must be deduced from the employees salary.

The payroll service provider 12 inputs payslip data to the "payworks" server 16.

The payworks server 16 is connected to a financial institution 18 with which the payworks server 16 is associated. This would typically be a bank, insurance company, or the like, which has the ability to display sensitive financial information to an individual in a secure manner and to capture financial transactions in a secure manner.

The payworks server 16 is also connected to other financial institutions 20 which have the capabilities described above, but do not have a close working relationship with the entity that has implemented the payworks server 16 of the present invention.

In addition, access to both the payworks server 16 and the financial institution 18 are available to an employee 22 via a plurality of delivery channels such as via the Internet 24, via a cellphone or other mobile station 26, via a branch 28, via an ATM 30 or via another delivery channel 32 of the financial institution 18. Each of these delivery channels will now be described in more detail.

The Internet 24 can be used by a financial institution to display sensitive financial information to an individual in a secure manner and capture financial transactions in a secure manner. The Internet is well know and makes use of the various Internet standards to allow a user, using a piece of software commonly know as a web browser, to display information on the user's personal computer, for example. In this invention the Internet is used to display (and possibly print) an employees payslip to that employee and to allow the employee to conduct financial transactions on that payslip. This will be described in more detail below.

The cellphone channel 26 makes use of the well known mobile telephone networks to transmit and receive information from an employee 22, using such standards as the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) or SIM Toolkit (WIG). These standards allow a cellphone to display information defined by the financial institution. In this invention the cellphone or another mobile station is used to display an employees payslip and to allow the employee to conduct financial transactions on that payslip. This will also be described in more detail below.

A branch 28 is housed in physical rooms in which people operate computer systems. These computer systems are connected together in such a way as to allow financial transactions to be conducted. In this invention, branches are used to display and print an employees payslip for that employee and to allow the employee to conduct financial transactions on that payslip. Branches may also be used to allow an employee to take up credit against their payslip.

Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) 30 are also well known. These typically consists of a screen, a secure keyboard, a card reader and a cash dispenser all connected to a computer system. ATM's 30 are capable of displaying and printing information defined by the financial institution as well as dispensing amounts of cash determining by the financial institution. In this invention, ATM's are used to display and print an employee's payslip for that employee, to allow the employee to conduct financial transactions on that payslip and to receive cash payments that would include loans granted and net pay payments. ATMs may also be used to allow an employee to take up credit against their payslip.

Finally, the Other Channels 32 delivery mechanism is any other delivery channel which can be used to display and/or print an employees payslip for that employee and to allow the employee to conduct financial transactions on that payslip.

Referring to Figure 2, in step 36, an employer 10 creates and updates an employees 22 monthly payslip and this payroll data is forwarded by a communications network, typically the internet 14, to a payroll service provider 12.

In step 38, the payroll service provider 12 compiles the information received from the employer 10 and forwards any changes to the employees' payslip to the payworks server 16 via a communications network, typically the internet 14. When this data is received, the employees' payslip is updated and stored by the payworks server 16.

The payworks server 16 also stores a list of financial payment transactions to be effected on payday, in step 42. These financial payment transactions may be input into the payworks server in two ways. Firstly, an employee 22 may create a financial transaction to be effected on payday, in step 44. These financial transactions may be third party payments or stop orders. Additionally, third parties may be enabled to send lists of deductions to the payworks server 16 which are to be made against an employees' salary. The list of financial payment transactions are stored by the payworks server together with the other information relating to the employees' payslip.

This allows an employee, in step 48, to view their payslip using one of the financial institutions delivery channels.

On payday, all the financial transactions are handed to the financial institution for payment processing in step 50.

Only a net amount is paid in cash or into the employees' account with the financial institution 18 or another financial institution 20.

All of the information stored can be used to determine the creditworthiness of the employee, step 55. Where an employee has loaned an amount, the repayment amount can be determined from the employees' payslip data and list of financial payment transactions and the repayment amount can be determined and posted against the employees' payslip.

Finally, the employee is also enabled to withdraw funds from a loan account as required, step 54. Figure 3 illustrates, in block diagram format, the payworks server 16 in more detail. The payworks server is implemented using various hardware and software modules, and what is referred to here as the payworks server 16 may in fact be comprised of a plurality of servers.

The modules illustrated by the blocks in Figure 3 are the software modules which may be run on one or more servers.

A payroll service provider interface 56, as mentioned above, provides the connection to companies or departments which provide payroll services. The interface 56 collects payroll data from various payroll service providers 12, either in real-time or batch mode, and forwards this data to the next module.

The payroll data is typically received via a communications network and is in a proprietary format. The payroll service provider interface 56 translates the format into a format used by the remainder of the modules.

Typically, the payroll servers 12 provides at least the following information :

1. employee name;

2. employee number;

3. date of employment;

4. date of termination of employment;

5. gross salary amount;

6. a number of salary deductions comprising a description and an amount;

7. a net salary;

8. employer banking details, including account number, bank and branch;

9. employer salary accounts details, including account number, bank and branch;

10. employee payday date. Figure 4 illustrates the method steps carried out by the software of the payroll service provider interface module 56. A message is accepted from the payroll service providers system, step 58. The data is checked for errors 60 and any errors are collected 62 and stored in a log file 64.

Messages correctly received are also stored 66 in the log file 64. The message is then checked to ascertain whether a translation is required or not, step 68.

If no translation is required, the message data is transferred to, in step 72, an employee payslip module 70. The employee payslip module 70 will be described in more detail below.

If translation of the message is required, this is carried out 74 using a translation table 76. The translated message is stored 78 in a log file 80 before being forwarded to the employee payslip module 70.

Figure 5 illustrates the steps carried out by the employee payslip module 70.

The module receives a change to an employee payslip 82 and searches a database for the employee details 84. If the employee is found 86 the module checks if the employee has the relevant months payslip details 88.

If the employee is not found, the module creates a new employee 90 and logs a possible error 92 in a log file 94. Whether the employee is found or is not found, if the employee does not have a payslip, a new payslip is created 96 and a possible error 98 is again logged in a log file 100.

The line item requiring a change is located 102. If there is no line item requiring a change, a new line item is inserted 104 to record the change. The changed line item or the new line item is updated to the database 108. A message is now posted 110 to an employee payment admin module 112, illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 6a illustrates the steps carried out by the employee payment admin module 112.

Details of a payment to be made are received from the employee payslip module 70. The database is searched for the employee details 116. If the employee is not found, a new employee is created 118 and the payment for the relevant month is created. A possible error is also logged 120 in a log file 122.

If the employee is found, or for a new employee, the database is searched to check if the payment exists. If the payment is not found, a new payment is created 126. If the payment is found, the payment is updated with the new amount 128.

The employee payment admin module 112 also manages the payment process on payday. Referring to Figure 6b, the module retrieves the next payment transaction 130 and writes the payment transaction 132 to a payment file 134 which is stored in a database.

If the payment is a recurring payment, the payment is stored for the employee for the next month. This is stored in a database 138, which may or may not be the same as the database in which the payment file 134 is stored.

Once all of the entries have been processed 140, the payment file 134 is forwarded 142 to the financial institution 18 for payment.

This payment file is sent via a financial institution interface 190 (Figure 3) using a standard file transfer protocol. It will be appreciated that the payment file is in a format which can be understood by a payments engine 144 (Figure 3) of the financial institution 18. The financial institution 18 then effects the payments using the Bank's payments engine.

A variable amount deduction interface 146 is a batch connection for file transfers for companies submitting debit orders to be deducted from employee's salaries. The interface 146 handles the interface to these companies, including the translation of the information from a potentially proprietary format to a standard format.

Referring to Figure 7, the variable amount deductions interface 146 accepts messages from a third party company system 148 and checks the messages for errors 150. If errors are located, these are written 152 to a log file 154 in a database. If no errors are detected, the messages received from the third parties are also logged 156 in the log file 154.

If translation of the message is required from a proprietary format to the standard payworks format, this is effected in step 158 using a translation table 160. The translated message 162 is stored in a log file 164. The message is then posted 166 to the employee payslip module 70, as described above. From there, a payment request is forwarded to the employee admin module 122.

The employee payment admin module 40 effects the payment of salaries from the employer to the employee using the bank interface 42 to the Bank's payments engine.

The payworks server 16 also has a web access module 168 (Figure 3) which allows an employee to access the payworks server 16 via the internet 24.

Using the web access module 168, an employee is able to view their payslip or the coming month. An employee is also able to make third party payments which can be created, modified and/or deleted before payday. These payments can take the form of once off third party payments, debit orders or stop orders.

Furthermore, payment requests inserted by third parties via the variable amounts deductions interface 146 can be viewed by the employee and modified as necessary.

Figure 8 illustrates the method steps carried out when a request is received to view an employees' payslip 170. The database is searched 172 for the employee, and if the employee is not found an error message is returned 174.

If the employee is found, the employees' payslip for this month is located 176. If the payslip is not located, an error message is again returned. If the payslip is located, it is retrieved 180 and once all of the payslip lines are retrieved 182 the payslip is formatted 184 and returned for viewing by the employee 186.

Although the above has been described with reference to the employee using the Internet 24, as mentioned above, the employee can also use a cellphone

26, branch 28, ATM 30 or another channel 32 to access the information. A delivery channel message routing module 188 (Figure 3) connects all of these to the payworks server 126 via the financial institutions interface 190. In essence, the delivery channel message routing 188 is a switch which routes transactions thereby connecting incoming messages with the appropriate systems to process the message. Furthermore, the delivery channel message routing converts the message from one message format to another. These subsystems are typically used by banks to connect a number of delivery channels to a number of back-end systems which distribute products through these channels. For example, an ATM may be connected to a credit card system for handling credit card transactions and a home loan system to allow withdrawals from a home loan. All ATM messages are sent to the delivery channel message routing 188 subsystem that translates and routes the messages to the credit card and home loan systems as appropriate. In the present invention, the extra back-end system of the payworks server is connected to all of these delivery channels using the delivery channel message routing system 188.

A loan management module 192 (Figure 3) uses behavioral scoring based on the employees' salary and transaction history to determine the size of a loan for which the employee qualifies. A loan account 194 can be opened at the financial institution 18 using the financial institution interface 190. Figure 9 illustrates the steps of the loan management module 192 in more detail.

Historical data is used to score the employee 196, and the score is saved in a log file 198 in a database.

The score is then used to determine the size of the loan 200, which is also stored in a log file 202. A message to open and/or adjust the loan size is composed and forwarded 204 to the financial institution 18 via the financial institution interface 190.

A loan account subsystem 194 adjusts the size of the loan which is made available to the employee via the delivery channels. The loan management module 192 sets the size of the repayment each month by first determining if the employee has resigned 208. If the employee has resigned, the full amount is deducted by updating 212 the employee payslip module 70 which in turns updates the employee payment admin module 112, as described above.

If the employee has not resigned, the repayment amount is determined 214 and this is also posted to the employee payslip module 70. Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the technical architecture of the present invention. In general, two servers are used, one to serve the database and the second to serve the application logic. The application server 216 includes an Internet server, an Internet application server and a payworks application server. It also includes an object request broker which manages interactions between clients and object implementations and a network operating system for connecting to a network.

The database server 218 includes the payworks data, a database management system and a network operating system.

Thus is would be appreciated that the present invention provides a method of processing financial transactions and displaying transaction information to an employee.

Furthermore, the real-time or near real-time feed from a payroll is an attractive feature for the employee.

For example, in an employee/employer relationship with the employee generating much of his or her revenue by working overtime shifts. Previously, the values of the employee's overtime both before and after tax would only be reflected in the following months payslip and this would invariably be just before payday. An employee could therefore wait for up to six weeks before this information was available. With a real-time feed into a DDA or similar environment, it is possible for the employee, via one of the Bank's delivery channels, including an ATM, to view the value of his or her payslip including overtime, far sooner. With the employer moving from a batch-based platform to a real-time environment, the information might even be available within the month in which it was worked.

In addition, this account facilitates predated payments functionality such as:

Third Party Payments

Debit Order payments (ordinary and preferential)

Stop Order Payments

Depending on the delivery channel, the individual is able to view, edit and create these transactions during the month along with his or her payroll transactions. On payday, the various third party payments are effected with the net salary payment made in cash via one of the financial institutions delivery channels or into an account of the employee's choice.

The complete package provided to an employee may include certain financial management tools, making the package attractive to employees. These management tools could include:

• A minimum Take home pay threshold' feature, to give those people, who require it, the ability to exercise better fiscal discipline with their financial affairs.

• Financial statements such as a balance sheet and a cash flow/income statement.

• Taxation tools

• Goal based planning tools - these would typically include tools to facilitate planning for education, retirement or even an overseas trip etc.

• Account payments transaction history - automated where possible through integration with their bank account.

• Benchmark tool for individuals - people able to compare their wealth and achievements relative to their own individual market segment.

Furthermore, by combining the payslip with a bank account, a much clearer understanding of the risk profile of potential customers of a bank is possible as the source of their income i.e. their salary, through to how they manage their disposable income, can be tracked. Depending on the individual's score, a range of products can be offered including credit cards, home loans, personal loans, overdraft facilities and car finance etc.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of processing a financial transaction and displaying financial transaction information to a user, the method comprising the steps of:

effecting the other payments using the payment mechanisms of a financial institution;

paying the employee the remainder of the amount, after the deductions and payments have been made;

storing the payslip data and payment data in a memory device; and

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of paying is either in cash or electronically crediting an account of the employee at the same or another financial institution.

3. A method according to claim 2 wherein the step of paying occurs on a predetermined payday.

4. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3 wherein the employee is given access to create, edit and/or delete payment data.

5. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the payslip data includes deductions made by an employer from the employees' payment.

6. A method according to claim 5 wherein the deductions include tax payments, pension fund payments, medical aid payments and any other payment deducted from an employees' salary by an employer.

7. A method according to any preceding claim wherein the other payments are any third party payment requested by the employee or a third party authorised to request such payments, a stop order or a debit order.

8. A method according to any preceding claim wherein communication network via which the employee is given access to view their stored payslip data and payment data may be one or more of the Internet, a communications network located at a branch of the financial institution, an Automatic Teller Machine network or a mobile telephone communications network.

9. A machine readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform the method steps in any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. A method substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.