INFORMATION ABOUT SENT COMPONENTS:
SENT is an electronic system for the multilateral clearing of low-value interbank payments sent among participants, during several daily sessions. This system stands apart due to the large number of instructions processed daily (about 95% of total interbank payments) and their low individual value, as well as due to the use of the TFDNet virtual private network for message exchange between participants and the system. This type of system is known as the Automated Clearing House - ACH.
Eligible institutions:
Types of transactions processed:
SENT provides a large number of facilities for file preparation, submission, management, monitoring and notification to participants and TRANSFOND, as follows:
One specific SENT aspect is that the instructions are submitted by participants in the system as instructions files (batches). The system allows participants two alternative processing modes, having the right to choose whichever suits them best, namely:
The clearing of instructions is done at batch level, permanently monitoring the compliance with each participant's collateral limit (the net position is permanently covered by the collateral voluntarily set up by participants).
The clearing of a validated file (as regards format and collateral) is done during the pre-established clearing periods via the SENT timetable, by real-time processing (immediately after validation) in the technical accounts of the involved participants (initiator and receiver).
SENT is operational only on ReGIS and TARGET2 business days, as the final settlement of the NSI (Net Settlement Instruction) takes place in these systems. Wuth regard to euro cross-boarder payments, they are processed in accordance with the operating hours of the external partner, Worldlines.
The SENT timetable currently includes 3 settlement sessions during business days, each having the same preset times.
TRANSFOND is the owner of the SENT IT infrastructure, the administrator and technical operator of the system.
In this capacity, TRANSFOND:
The Instant Payments Service (Plăți Instant) was completed in December 2018, and the official launch for consumers was on April 22nd, 2019. This service processes small value payments 24/7 in a maximum of 10 seconds, account-2-account, according to standards in the field.
Such a platform offers the possibility to collect payments in real time (within a few seconds of the payment initiation), for individuals - users of internet and mobile banking, legal entities - traditional merchants, virtual stores, businesses in any industry, as well as authorities. The step forward marked by the real-time "account-to-account" payments, compared to the standard time of execution of payments for any type of beneficiary among those mentioned above, respectively a number of hours or days from the payment order initiation, is a considerable one and has the potential to stimulate performance both in the case of businesses, as well as authorities that implement such an option for payment collection.
At international level, as well as at European level in particular, the authorities in the field, together with experts in the profile industry, consider that instant payment processing is becoming the new standard for processing payments of all types, but especially retail ones.
In line with the general trends described, the development strategy of TRANSFOND aims to replace, in the future, at a date that will be agreed together with the local banking sector, the SEPA type payment orders currently implemented, with instant payment orders.
Advantages of the service:
a) For payment service providers:
b) For businesses that will implement the "Instant Payments" tool (traditional merchants, virtual stores, businesses in any other field), the advantages would be:
c) Individual consumers, users of mobile banking or any other application that offers the possibility of using instant payments may reach the stage where they no longer have to carry anything other than a simple mobile device (usually a telephone), in order to purchase goods and services in the public space or to make payments to friends.
d) Central and local authorities, through their own fiscal structures, can benefit from instantaneous budget revenues, with all the related benefits, having the possibility to offer new incentives for the payment of taxes and duties, if the revenues come through Instant Payments.
Following the same development line of payment services offered, in September 2020, TRANSFOND completed a new service - AliasPay – available 24/7/365.
Through this service, TRANSFOND offers the possibility of simplified initiation of payments between two accounts opened with different banks, using only the mobile phone number of the payment beneficiary.
AliasPay is a Standardized Proxy Lookup (SPL) service that allows payments initiation based on an alias (mobile phone number) that the payer knows. AliasPay connects the IBAN account number of the payee to the alias, for payment service providers. In implementing the service, TRANSFOND used the SPL scheme of the Romanian Association of Banks.
This feature will be offered to end consumers (individuals or legal entities) through banks/payment service providers that will become participants in AliasPay. The AliasPay documentation has been published and is availablefor them, as an integral part of the SENT System Rules (Clearing House for interbank payments in lei and in euro, owned by TRANSFOND). Therefore, the access of financial service end-users to AliasPay is determined by the prior accession of their own banks / payment service providers to this service.
Starting from November 24, 2022, Romanian banks can minimize the risk of erroneous payment to fraudulent beneficiaries by implementing one of the most effective security measures - verifying the identity of the beneficiary (holder of a specific IBAN) before or at the time of payment initiation by the payer, so that the latter can decide whether or not to initiate the payment, depending on the real identity of the beneficiary. This validation is performed through Confirmation of Payee service (SANB - Serviciul Afișare Nume Beneficiar) which ensures the provision and automatic display of the first name and initial of the name of the beneficiary when the payer enters the beneficiary's IBAN account. In the case of a legal entity - beneficiary of the payment, part of the name and form of organization (S.R.L., S.A., etc.) will be displayed for validation.
At the time of launch, SANB was implemented by Libra Bank, ING Bank and CEC Bank, for the direct benefit of their own customers and the customers of the other banks that joined SANB.
The Confirmation of Payee service - SANB was developed by TRANSFOND and the Scheme is administered by ARB as an optional additional service to the SEPA RON Credit Transfer Schemes, based on the Convention on National Payment Schemes and the mandate given by the National Bank of Romania. The Confirmation of Payee service is an integrated IT solution intended for all interbank payment service providers.
Currently, there is no payee name validation in the process of collecting a payment. There is thus a (potential) risk that a cybercriminal requests the payer (via email, sms, etc.), on behalf of beneficiaries known to the payer (utility providers, service or goods providers), to pay some invoices, indicating IBAN codes of own accounts (different from those of entitled beneficiaries). Finally, there is a risk that some payers may follow these instructions without checking the details carefully and pay into the indicated account, mistaking it for the rightful beneficiary.
The occurrence of such cases of fraud can directly affect, in terms of money or reputation, the bank, public confidence in the banking system and in general in cashless payments through the (inter)banking system. Beneficiary verification is, at the same time, an important link in the development of new components of the payment ecosystem in Romania.
RoPay sets up in Romania the foundation for The September 2020 European Commission new strategy regarding retail payments across the Union. The strategy aims at the predominance of real-time retail payments made with mobile devices, compared to any other payment methods, electronic or cash, all over the European Economic Area.
The instant payment infrastructure, which provides the rails for RoPay initiated payments, was offered to banks since 2019, and it is available for over 80% of the banking market in Romania.
RoPay covers a variety of usecases (including merchant payments, e-commerce payments, peer-to-peer payments) and it will use a standard QR code adopted by the banking community and compatible with the European reference standard. Through RoPay, instant payments can be initiated both between accounts located at different banks and between accounts at the same bank. The target end user base for RoPay consists of consumers and merchants interested in making and collecting instant electronic payments with minimal effort and cost compared to other means of payment.
RoPay brings multiple benefits to merchants in terms of lower processing costs, premises for real-time payment-delivery reconciliation set up, ease of implementation and liquidity, payments being settled within 10 seconds after the customer initiates the payment (money becomes immediately available in the merchant account), with maximum security and 24/7/365 availability. Also, the service offers merchants the opportunity to launch new loyalty programs/promotion of their own services and products, correlated with the use of RoPay. At the same time, it creates the premises for small merchants to have real-time receipts, providing the same satisfaction as cash receipts.
The RoPay benefits for individual consumers are generated by the possibility to pay in real time by scanning a QR code for the purchase of goods and services online or in the physical environment, to make instant payments to close friends, utilities, suppliers or other recipients, on advantageous terms.
The service will be available in a distinct manner in mobile banking applications, functionally integrated with them, but with its own visible, unitary and common identity for the banks participating in the service. As a payment collection tool, RoPay is going to be technically integrated with the acquiring facilities of the bank/payment institution/payment processor that offers it.
RoPay will provide in use an extremely fast and pleasant payment experience (initiation and execution) so that it is going to be easily adoptable by consumers in their everyday life.
On 07/05/2024, the National Bank of Romania approved the Set of Rules regarding the RoPay Scheme