BANKCARDCONTROL ®
system
Bank Card Transaction Monitoring System
The services of the BCC system provides more security and easy monitoring for the use of cards. Common features of the services are that a message is sent to the cardholder after a card transaction is made from a mobile equipment (mobile phone or pager) together with the details of the account linked to the card; and that the limit value of the card can be modified by issuing commmands from a mobile phone.
The services of the BCC system are:
1. BCC - TransactionControl
Automatic sending of a real-time message after card transactions
2. BCC - Daily Dollar
Sending daily message of the amount available on the card
3. BCC - Interactive
Receiving/Sending messages interactively about the card balance, credit/debit entries against the account, and other information
4. BCC - LimitControl
Setting purchase limit
1. BCC - TransactionControl
Each time a successful transaction or a transaction attempt is made, the client receives an immediate notice. The client may specify the type of transactions which it would like to receive notices of: ATM cash withdrawals, purchases on POS terminals, or both. In case of fraudulent use of the card, the client receives immediate notice not only of the use of the card, but also of the amount and the place of the transaction. The system also sends a message after any unsuccessful transactions (e.g. when a wrong PIN was given), which can be utilised by the client to proactively prevent the potential fraudulent activity.
The notice received by the cardholder contains the:
- transaction time
- transaction type (cash withdrawal, purchase, blocking, etc.)
- transaction amount
- place of transaction
- name and address of the operator of the card accepting device
- brand name of the card used for the transaction (e.g. VISA, EC/MC, etc.)
2. BCC - Daily Dollar
This system service sends card account balance information once a day to the client’s mobile phone or pager.
3. BCC - Interactive
With this interactive service the client may send a request from its mobile phone to the system (by sending a text message) requiring card account information or other general information. The following information can be obtained: card account balance, credit/debit entries against the card account, FX rates, up-to-date interest rates, etc.
The computer system of the bank or the Mobile Service Provider responds by sending a short message to the client. If the response would not fit into a single message, the system will automatically split and send it in a format of multiple messages.
4. BCC - LimitControl
The most acute problem, still unresolved throughout the world, in relation to card use has been that fraudulent people using a stolen card, the magnetic strip of a card, or having learnt the card number can perform POS transactions (i.e. purchase) upto the limit set on the card account. If too high a value is set for the card limit by the card holder, the risk of financial loss will increase. On the other hand, if the limit is set too low, the card holder will limit its own options at a purchase. The dilemma can be solved by using the LimitControl service of the BCC system.
The LimitControl provides the card holder with the opportunity to limit the timeframe and the amount of the purchase. This can be done by placing a call or sending a text message from the mobile phone, in which the card holder specifies the timeframe its card can be used for purchase, and sets a limit to the amount of the purchase. After the preset time elapsed, or, optionally, after the next successful transaction, the limit will automatically reset to the default value, which can be a smaller amount, or even zero.
The two main benefits of the solution are:
- it will not slow down the purchase transaction process at all at the time of the actual payment,
-
the system will automatically reset the default limit value, without requiring any interaction from the cardholder, thus preventing the risk of forgetting to reset it. These features ensure that a card with BCC in place will become a ’useless’ piece of plastic, should it get lost or stolen.
The following graphs show the change of limit values as a function of time.
Time-controlled card
Transaction-controlled card
Figure 1 – The logical design of the BCC system
The system is composed of three components:
Interfaces to provide the links between the host systems and the BCC system, including the interface to the system’s local database.
- Central Transaction Controller and Multiplexer
This unit acts as a gateway between the interfaces and front-end units. It also does the load balancing and provides real-time redundancy, that is, ensures that in case of a failure the takeover by the backup server is done automatically and remains unnoticed to the user. It also ensures transaction level security for both the clients and the host.
These units present the data in the requiered format and communicate with the users using the approriate method of the relevant communication channel (SMS, pager info, voice, etc.).
Two Options of Offering the BCC System:
- Providing solution
- Providing service
The system can be offered as a product to banks or card companies. Alternatively, a service company can be established, which then re-sells the functions of the system as a service.
The following infrustructures and contracts are required for the realization of the service:
- Interface to the card system
- Interface to the banking system (to certain services only)
- Physical link to and contract with the Mobile/Pager Service Providers
Service Fees
As an example please find below the current service fees applied in Hungary:
TransactionControl: 10 HUF / message
QA 20 HUF / message
Daily Dollar: 400 HUF/month /card account
LimitControl: 600 HUF/month
The Mobile Service Provider charges the Bank a fee of 3 to 8 HUF per SMS.
The above figures indicate that the investment will have a short payback period.
BCC System Components and Fee Structure
Interface:
to the Bank:
to the card system:
to the Mobile Service Provider:
to the Pager Service Provider:
Central Controller software:
Licence fee:
per message: or
per client: or
monthly charge:
Hardware costs: Central Controller server:
Server for sending Short Messages (SMS):
Software environment: Windows NT/2000/XP operating system
Hardware: Intel processor based server
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