Banking processing centers - structural subdivisions of banks

Have you ever wondered how the banking system functions ? How do ATMs and payment terminals learn how much money there is? How do they know that, where and how was it shot? In all this, bank processing centers (BPCs) are involved, because they own all the information. What are these structural divisions of banks? What functions are performed? How do they work? Who provides these services? Is there a risk zone? Where are the large units of this type concentrated?

Why do you need bank processing centers?

First of all, let's deal with this issue. When talking about bank processing centers, it means authorized by certain payment systems special computing power, which is available to the database of participants (people) and personal computers (ATMs) that can use its capabilities. They provide authorization requests, as well as transactions.

Banking processing centers record data about who made payments, who requested cash at ATMs and many other actions (like processing information on account limits and sending authorization requests, when the issuing bank does not have its own database for these purposes ). As you can see, there are a lot of functions. But not all of them are "equal". Large institutions often have major processing centers that handle the management activities of other, smaller units.

How does the center work?

The mode of operation can be of two types:

1. Direct work with the processing center of your bank. In this case it is understood that a person with his plastic card goes to the ATM of his institution. When it enters identifying information, it is transferred directly to the issuer. Somewhere on a remote server, plastic cards are processed, and the information returned to the individual is returned to the person he requested. Let's say how much money he has. If you request a large amount, the ATM will look at the data and say that there is not so much cash. When the balance is requested, the device will count and provide the data. In this case, the ATM will send the information to the processing center, that he gave a certain amount to a certain person. Of course, there are also lining, but usually the circuit works flawlessly.
2. Interaction through an intermediary. In this case, the processing center sends a request to the bank that issued the card. If everything is fine, the answer is back that the payment can be made. Also there are databases of operations, this facilitates mutual settlements between different banks.

Outsourcing of banking services

When a bank has its own BOC - this is one thing. Features in this case, we looked a little higher. Now we will pay attention to the transfer of all operations by another organization (also called outsourcing of banking services). This is usually the case for small institutions that have relatively little activity. You can name BPC (or simply PC) as you like, starting with OJSC Banking Processing Center to "Calculate for one-two". Important in this case is the speed of performance of the duties assigned to it, as well as the safety of the data being processed.

Additional functions

The department may be entrusted with additional obligations: the issuance of new cards for enterprises with subsequent personalization is not uncommon. The processing center is the technical core of the payment system. It operates under very harsh conditions. This is not surprising, because the center must guarantee to process in real time a large flow of transactions. Therefore, to the processing power of the processing center, there are also a number of stringent requirements. He should prepare and present data for mutual settlements, process transaction protocols - and that's all in just a few hours.

What is necessary for the work of the processing center?

Conditionally, there are two points:

1. Computational power of considerable size. This we have already considered above.
2. Developed communication infrastructure. The BPC must simultaneously work with a large number of geographical points, which are at a considerable distance. It is clear that high-performance data transmission networks are required for efficient operation. Their importance is so great that they are even attributed to the internal elements of payment systems, without which they can not exist.

Communication centers are used to perform the necessary tasks, which are envisaged by the bank's work. They provide payment system entities access to the networks through which data is transmitted. On their shoulders lies the concern that no one can access them for illegal purposes. Their work on providing high-speed communication lines allows supporting a bank processing center.

Terminals (ATMs) receive information quickly. By modern standards, delays are small: they can be a matter of seconds. This is not surprising, because the operation of the cash dispenser with the client is also strictly regulated. The terminal can not process the request for more than 30 seconds. But this, as it was already written, is a little outdated concept.

Geographical location

In the Republic of Belarus, a network of banks and large enterprises established OJSC Banking Processing Center. Minsk is the city where the head office is located. So, the data in the capital will be processed in a few seconds. It all depends on the geographical distance. It also has branches of OJSC Banking Processing Center. Grodno is a city in which one of them is located. Therefore, here too, various requests will be processed fairly quickly.

Expands and enters into new contracts with various large banks of OJSC Banking Processing Center. Gomel (the city) has already opened the doors of a new branch. Here you can make a non-cash card payment system "Belcard".

As it became clear, branches of JSC "Banking processing center" open in many cities. Brest was no exception. PCs you will find in this city at: Brest, ul. Molodogvardeyskaya, 3, building. 3.

Always notifies about various technical works, preventive measures, because of which terminals are not working, "Banking processing center". Mogilev, half of whose population are clients of the PC, disconnected the terminals on May 21 to 7 am.

Licenses

To make sure that the processing center can perform all the functions assigned to it qualitatively, it is necessary to go through certain procedures that regulate most of the nuances. Legislatively, they were established in most countries, usually in the last 15 years. They issue licenses to all organizations of PSP / IPSP. Their value, as well as the opportunities that are provided by different states, vary in each individual country. But, if we summarize, we can say that licenses allow certain companies, provided that they have agreements with banks that work with VISA and MasterCard, initiate a procedure for writing off money from one account in order to subsequently charge them on another.

Additional Documentation

In addition to the above licenses, there are also regulatory documentation of companies that can determine the general rules of interaction in the global card payments market. First of all, this applies to the previously mentioned organizations VISA and MasterCard. For example, the documentation of the first company Card Acceptance and Chargeback Management Guidelines. By the way, as the development of the electronic payment market, a trend has developed that large processing systems acted as the basis for creating their own. But still the overwhelming number of companies of this type work exclusively with one area. This is both their strong and weak place: they do not own their money.

What types of systems are used by the BOC?

Conditionally they can be divided into these types:

1. White is focused on interacting with companies that pay all taxes in their jurisdictions. They refer to those that have low risks of problems. But, alas, their activities are significantly complicated by high taxes, which creates them some problems in the competition with the representatives of the following two points.
2. Gray refers to PCs that have been registered in an offshore or low-tax jurisdiction. As a rule, companies of this kind do not differ much from whites. But they can get more income by paying a smaller amount, and also are ready to work with almost any business: pharmaceuticals, adult websites, trade on the edge of legality is all about them. The only thing is that they are not ready to work with customers who come from the street. Therefore, it is necessary to connect personal contacts, reputation, and sometimes seek and guarantor.
3. Black deals with any payments. Even those who are openly unlawful. For technical reasons, this is impossible without the bank that opened the account, so they work in conjunction. For example, odious offshore or Chinese banks. Because of the huge turnover, as well as significant risks, such structures are very complicated, and it is very difficult to find a conditional owner of this money (but does not mean that it is impossible). In addition to the difficulty in establishing communication, there is also a very big risk that it can close at any time, and then the entire amount that hung on it will disappear.

About the Russian banking sector

Most financial institutions that issue their own plastic cards also have separate HRs. In this case, they act as a structural subdivision of the banks, thanks to which settlement is made between the participants of the system. They provide internal processing of operations. BPCs that operate on the territory of the Russian Federation are also required to have a license from the FSB that monitor the encryption of information.

Conclusion

As you can see, bank processing centers are an important component of the bank's structure. In addition to performing their basic functions, they are also entrusted with a number of additional tasks. They monitor the status of ATMs. And if the technician sends a signal that the terminal, for example, is hacked, the data is processed and sent to the security service.