Glossary

See IID

BDD (Business Direct Debit) is the process offered by the Swiss banks for the processing of direct debits without right of objection. It is suitable for companies that predominantly collect large amounts in francs or euro in the business customer sector. The business model here is generally based on the delivery-verses-payment principle.

The Business Identifier Code (BIC) is a SWIFT 8- or 11-digit code (ISO 9362) used to identify unequivocally both participating financial and non-financial institutions.

camt (Cash Management) denotes XML messages used between bank/PostFinance and customer, according to the definitions of the ISO 20022 standard. The «Cash Management Messages» are specified as follows: Bank-to-Customer Account Report (camt.052), Bank-to-Customer Statement (camt.053) und Bank-to-Customer Debit/Credit Notification (camt.054).

The ISO 20022 message camt.052 for intraday account statements (turnover, transactions) can be delivered at regular intervals (every hour or every two hours) or daily at a maximum of three set times. Each camt.052 message contains all the entries since the last ordinary account statement. Note: Not all of the financial institutions are offering these messages for intraday account statements (camt.052).

The XML message "Bank-to-Customer Statement" (camt.053) is used by financial institutions for providing electronic account information to their customers. It represents the ISO 20022 standard for account statements and is delivered by default via the Bank Transaction Codes (BTC) published by ISO.

Debit and credit notifications are covered in the ISO 20022 standard by camt.054 messages. Delivery of notifications is usually done via incoming and outgoing payments on an event-driven basis (e.g. following a payment order). Note: Not all of the financial institutions are offering these messages for debit and credit notifications (camt.054).

Debit Direct is the current direct debit scheme of PostFinance. With Debit Direct the debtor can authorize the biller to debit the amount due directly from his account.

The Swiss banks used to offer their customers the electronic transmission of payments in a standardized DTA (German for "Datenträgeraustausch") format as a means of executing paperless payments. The DTA standard was withdrawn from the market on 30 June 2018.

As from 1 July 2018, the DTA standard is eliminated. The document "DTA – Standards and Formats" has been be discontinued and removed from SIX Interbank Clearing's website.

Electronic credit advice of PostFinance resulting from slip-based electronic payment transactions.

The institution identification (IID) serves in Switzerland & Liechtenstein for the identification of institutions participating in the SIC & euroSIC system.

An IS (inpayment slip) refers to the red payment slip used in Switzerland, with which money can be transferred to an account.

An ISR (inpayment slip with reference number) refers to the orange payment slip in Switzerland with which money can be transferred to an account. It contains a machine-readable encoding line that contains a participant number and reference number. The participant number ensures the crediting to the corresponding Post account. The reference number enables the creditor to identify the invoice recipient. In this way, the payment process can be handled entirely electronically, from the invoicing date to the booking of the amount at the creditor.

Electronic payment order in proprietary format or ISO 20022 standard of PostFinance.

The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is the international standard for the presentation of account numbers. In order to rationalize cross-border payments, the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and the ECBS (European Committee for Banking Standards) have created the IBAN. It simplifies the recording, transmission and processing of payment data.

ISO is the largest worldwide organization that develops international standards. Specifically, it is a network of 162 national standardization organizations around the world, which elaborates international standards in various areas.

The objective of this International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard is to accomplish a global convergence of existing and new message standards from various segments of the financial industry. ISO 20022 not only includes payment transaction and account reporting messages, but also covers other areas, including securities trading, foreign trade and treasury.

LSV⁺ is the process offered by the Swiss banks for the processing of direct debits with right of objection. It is suitable for companies that regularly collect amounts in francs or euro and which seek to offer their customers a simple and convenient mode of payment. LSV⁺ is used for both company and private customer business sectors and offers the best possible consumer protection through the right of objection.

pacs (Payments Clearing and Settlement) denotes XML messages used between banks, which is defined in the ISO 20022 standard.

pain (Payments Initiation) denotes XML messages used between customer and bank, which is defined in the ISO 20022 standard.

The Customer Credit Transfer Initiation (pain.001) XML message is used for the electronic commissioning of payment orders by the customer to the payment submitting financial institution.

The XML message Customer Payment Status Report (pain.002) is used by the financial institution to inform customers about the status of pain.001 credit transfer orders or pain.008 collection orders that have been submitted.

The Customer Direct Debit Initiation (pain.008) XML message is used for the electronic commissioning of collection orders by customers to the financial institution. 

The Quick Response Code (QR code) is a two-dimensional barcode. It consists of a square matrix of black and white dots that represent encoded binary data. Special markings in three of the four corners indicate the orientation.

Single Euro Payments Area. SEPA is the area of the EU/EEA member states plus Switzerland, where citizens, companies and other economic actors will be able to make and receive payments in euro, whether between or within national boundaries under the same basic conditions, rights and obligations, regardless of their location.

The SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme is the payments scheme for making euro credit transfers across SEPA, as set out in the respective rulebook.

The SEPA Direct Debit Scheme is a pan-European direct debit system that enables merchants to collect euro payments from accounts in participating countries.

An STP transaction occurs when, after being generated and routed through all involved payment systems, it can be processed by the creditor’s financial institution without manual intervention.

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language for the representation of arbitrary data structures. The ISO 20022 standard messages for the data exchange between customers and banks are based on XML.