This posting is an attempt at listing the key technical requirements that must be present in order for two mobile banking systems to be able to inter-connect. This means the ability of a subscriber in one system to be able to send money (preferably in real-time) to another subscriber on the other system.Both systems must be able to do the following:
- Adhere to the same message routing strategies. It is essential that the payment instruction issued on the one system should travel to the correct destination system and then that the actual target account be identified. This is not a simple problem as the routing should cater for multiple accounts associated with the same telephone number. Banking systems use the concept of a BIN to route payment systems, Telco systems use international dialing codes and operator codes (or look-up tables if number portability has been implemented). Which one of the two should banking systems use?
- A mechanism to clear the transaction and ultimately settle the transfers must be implemented in the same way by both systems. This is not a trivial issue as clearing and settlement creates all kinds of liabilities that must be analysed properly and catered for in the selected system. Reconciliation and detection (and correction) of discrepancies are also important.
- One of the most difficult interconnect problems is the schema for the management of uncompleted transactions. This type of situation would occur when the originating system did not get a confirmation nor a decline message from the destination system. The resolution of such conflicts are extremely complex. The design of roll-backs, pending transactions etc. is not trivial.
- Reporting systems must be agreed on.
- Technical handshakes, unavailability of one of the systems and consideration like load management (because of the potential huge volumes) must be well defined in order for the solution to work.