Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 1
2009
Technical Approach for
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Thinkways Software Technologies PVT. LTD.
#254 / 1, 5th Cross, Vasanthappa Block,
Ganganagar, Bangalore – 560 032
PH: +91-80-42664800
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 2
2009
Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 3
2. Stake holders ..................................................................................................................................... 3
3. Logistics ............................................................................................................................................. 3
4. Transaction ........................................................................................................................................ 4
5. Features: .......................................................................................................................................... 10
6. Technology: ..................................................................................................................................... 10
7. Transaction Flow: ........................................................................................................................... 10
8. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 20
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 3
2009
1. Executive Summary
With the advent of growth in mobile communication in Africa, the lives of millions
of unbanked users are being transformed by innovative mobile financial services.
For the past few years Thinkways has been analyzing and researching on various
solutions to provide basic banking facilities to the unfortunate many.
Thinkways Mobile money transfer is a unique feature of our mobile financial
platform which will allow unbanked users to successfully transfer or perform
transactions without an actual bank account.
2. Stake holders
1. Operator : The owner of the system
2. Bank
3. Agent : Airtime seller
4. Operator’s Customer with bank account
5. Operator’s Customer without bank account
6. Customer of a different operator
3. Logistics
Operator will tie up with banks.
Operator will have its agents in various part of the country.
Generally the agents will be the same as airtime sellers.
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 4
2009
4. Transaction
Money is transferred as airtime to airtime or airtime to money or money to
airtime based on the availability of the bank account and airtime.
Scenario 1:
Sender: has no bank account
Sender: with the operator
Receiver: has no bank account
Receiver: with the operator
Airtime to Airtime:
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 5
2009
Here the money transfer will be through airtime transfer. Both are with
the same operator.
Scenario 2:
Sender: has no bank account
Sender: with the operator
Receiver: has bank account
Receiver: with the operator
Airtime to Money:
Peer to peer where the receiver has bank account. Money is transferred
as airtime and received as money. Both are with the same operator.
Scenario 3:
Sender: has bank account
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 6
2009
Sender: with the operator
Receiver: has no bank account
Receiver: with the operator
Money to airtime:
Peer to peer where the receiver does not have bank account. Both are
with the same operator.
Scenario 4:
Sender: has bank account
Sender: with the operator
Receiver: has bank account
Receiver: with the operator
Money to money:
Peer to peer where both receiver and sender have bank accounts. Both
are with the same operator. Operator has tie up with the banks. Either airtime
or money can be transferred.
This is same as mobile banking. Here the customer can also get other
features of mobile banking like balance enquiry, cheque status etc.
Scenario 5:
Sender: has no bank account
Sender: with the operator
Receiver: has no bank account
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 7
2009
Receiver: not with the operator
Airtime to Money
Transaction where the receiver does not have bank account and is not a
customer of the same operator. So transfer of airtime is not possible. The
sender does the transaction through an agent of the operator. The receiving
party gets a secret code of the transaction through SMS and goes to the agent
and collects the cash by giving the secret code.
Scenario 6:
Sender: has bank account
Sender: with the operator
Receiver: has no bank account
Receiver: not with the operator
Money to Money:
In this transaction the sender has bank account. He will transfer money
as airtime. The receiver will get a secret code of the transaction. The receiver
will go the agent and upon submitting the security code, he will receive the
money.
Scenario 7:
Sender: has no bank account
Sender: not with the operator
Receiver: has no bank account
Receiver: with the operator
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 8
2009
Money to Airtime:
The sender will go to the agent and pay him the money to be
transferred to the receiver. The receiver will receive the money as airtime.
Scenario 8:
Sender: has no bank account
Sender: not with the operator
Receiver: has bank account
Receiver: with the operator
Money to Money:
The sender will go to the agent and pay him the money to be
transferred to the receiver. The receiver will receive the money in the bank
account or as airtime.
Scenario 9:
Sender: has no bank account
Sender: not with the operator
Receiver: has no bank account
Receiver: not with the operator
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 9
2009
Money to Money:
The sender will go to the agent and pay him the money to be
transferred to the receiver. The receiver will receive get a secret code for the
transaction as SMS. Upon submission of the secret code with an agent he will
receive the money.
For all this transactions the operator would charge a transaction fee and
which could be shared among the stake holders.
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 10
2009
5. Features:
1. Airtime topup
2. Shopping
3. Money transfer
4. Utility bill payment
5. Peer to Peer
6. Ticketing
7. Loyalty program/ Reward points
6. Technology:
The above transactions are done through various channels and methods.
1. J2me App on the phone(GRPS/SMS)
2. USSD (Unstructured Supplementary service Data)
3. WIB (wireless internet browser)
4. WAP
5. IVR
6. STK
7. Transaction Flow:
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 11
2009
Money transfer done by an agent on behalf of a customer
1. Mobile application (J2ME)
A J2ME is loaded in the agent’s mobile that has the following features:
a. Bio-Metric validation for authenticating the agent
b. Functionality to take input for sending Money Deposit request to the
server
c. Functionality to take input for sending Money Transfer request to the
server
d. Functionality that sends SMS in a pre-defined format to the Intermediate
server
2. Intermediate server
a. An intermediate server receives the request SMS through a modem and
validates basic message format etc…
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 12
2009
b. The server sends a Bank transaction request to the Bank’s server through
the Bank’s ATM Switch over the internet
c. The server parses the response from the Bank’s server and sends a
response SMS to the client
d. Maintains a Transaction Log for all communications
3. Print Receipt / Transaction Slip
a. A Receipt / Transaction Slip is printed by the agent and handed over to the
client, on successful completion of transaction.
Money transfer done by an agent on behalf of a customer
1. Mobile application (J2ME)
A J2ME is loaded in the agent’s mobile that has the following features:
a. Functionality to take input for sending Money Transfer request to the
server
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 13
2009
b. Functionality that sends SMS in a pre-defined format to the Intermediate
server
2. Intermediate server
c. An intermediate server receives the request SMS through a modem and
validates basic message format etc…
d. The server sends a Bank transaction request to the Bank’s server through
the Bank’s ATM Switch over the internet
e. The server parses the response from the Bank’s server and sends a
response SMS to the client
f. Maintains a Transaction Log for all communications
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 14
2009
Sequence for account creation
1. A customer fills up a registration form and submits it to an agent
2. The Agent forwards the request to the service provider
3. The service provider verifies the details. If the data is valid an account is created
by the Service provider for the customer and a mail is sent to the customer
regarding the account details, password etc…
Note: The account creation process is done manually.
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 15
2009
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 16
2009
Sequence for Money transfer by agent
1. A customer approaches an agent and deposits money
2. Customer deposits money and request to make a transfer to other account
3. The Agent forwards the request to the service provider
4. Validation is done at the Service Provider server. When approved a confirmation
message is sent or a NG Message with the error details
5. When approved, the agent either sends a confirmation or cancel request to the
server
6. When the Confirmation is sent the Customer’s and the Agent’s db is updated
with the transaction value
7. The beneficiary collects money from any of the agent by providing his account
details
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 17
2009
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 18
2009
Sequence for Money transfer by customer
1. A customer sends a request to the service provider to make a money transfer
2. Validation is done at the Service Provider server. When approved a confirmation
message is sent or a NG Message with the error details
3. When approved, the customer either sends a confirmation or cancel request to
the server
4. When the Confirmation is sent the Customer’s db is updated with the transaction
value
5. The beneficiary collects money from any of the agent by providing his account
details
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 19
2009
Money Transfer by Mobile phones
Proprietary and Confidential Page 20
2009
Sequence for Money collection by customer
1. A customer approaches an agent, provides account details and request for money
2. The agent sends a balance enquiry / withdrawal request to the server along with
the customer account details.
3. Validation is done at the Service Provider server. When approved a confirmation
message is sent or a NG Message with the error details
4. When approved, the agent either sends a confirmation or cancel request to the
server
5. When the Confirmation is sent the Customer’s and the Agent’s db is updated
with the transaction value
8. Conclusion
The mobile phone will eventually be the most effective medium of providing
financial services to the millions unbanked. Mobile Money Transfer is a start to the
number of financial services to be provided in the future.
For further information please contact Alok Subudhi. Email : [email protected].