Payment card based remittance system with delivery of anti-money laundering information to receiving financial institution

Abstract

A request for a funds transfer is received by a sending financial institution (FI) located in a first country from a mobile network operator (MNO) for a recipient located in a second country. The funds transfer request includes the sender's mobile telephone number and transaction data, and the process includes translating the mobile telephone number into a sender's payment card account number, determining that the sender's payment card account can support the transfer amount, and transmitting the transaction data and the sender's payment card account number to a payment system. The sending FI receives a payment confirmation message that satisfies compliance with know your customer (KYC) information and anti-money laundering (AML) information requirements, and transmits a remittance confirmation message to the MNO.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a sending financial institution (FI) located in a first country from a mobile network operator (MNO), a request for a funds transfer to a recipient associated with a receiving FI located in a second country, wherein the funds transfer request includes the sender's mobile telephone number and transaction data, wherein the transaction data comprises the sender's name and residential address, an amount of money to be transferred, and a mobile telephone number of the recipient;   translating, by the sending FI, the sender's mobile telephone number into a sender's payment card account number;   determining that the sender's payment card account associated with the sender's payment card account number contains one of adequate funds or a sufficient credit facility to support the amount of money to be transferred;   transmitting, by the sending FI, the transaction data and the sender's payment card account number to a payment system that handles at least one of debit card and credit card transactions;   receiving, by the sending FI from the payment system, a payment confirmation message including an indication of a recipient payment card account, the receiving FI, and the recipient's name and residential address to satisfy compliance with know your customer (KYC) information and anti-money laundering (AML) information requirements; and   transmitting, by the sending FI to the MNO, a remittance confirmation message.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, prior to receiving a request for a funds transfer:
 receiving, by the sending FI from the mobile network operator (MNO), remittance customer data comprising a customer's name, residence address, mobile telephone number and documentation verifying the customer's identity and residence address;   generating, by the sending FI, a payment card account number for the customer;   storing, by the sending FI, the remittance customer data in association with the customer's payment card account number; and   transmitting, by the sending FI to a translation server, the customer's mobile telephone number in association with the customer's payment card account number.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, prior to receiving a request for a funds transfer:
 receiving, by the sending FI from a customer, remittance customer data comprising the customer's name, residence address, mobile telephone number and documentation verifying the customer's identity and residence address;   generating, by the sending FI, a payment card account number for the customer;   storing, by the sending FI, the remittance customer data in association with the customer's payment card account number; and   transmitting, by the sending FI to a translation server, the customer mobile telephone number in association with the customer's payment card account number.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, prior to transmitting the transaction data and the sender's payment card account number:
 assigning, by the sending FI, a unique transaction identification number to the funds transfer request; and   transmitting the unique transaction identification number to the payment system along with the transaction data and the sender's payment card account number.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining that the sender's payment card account contains adequate funds to cover the amount of money to be transferred comprises:
 transmitting, by the sender FI to a funding FI that issued the sender's payment card account, the transaction data; and   receiving, from the funding FI, an authorization indicating that the sender's payment card account includes one of adequate funds or an adequate credit facility to support the transfer amount.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, by the MNO, the remittance confirmation message to the sender's mobile telephone number. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, prior to translating the sender's mobile telephone number into a sender's payment card account number, generating, by the sending FI, a special code indicating that the sending FI and the receiving FI at least one of have included or will include KYC information and AML information for the sender and the recipient. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising storing, by the sending FI, the KYC information and the AML information. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising applying, by the sending FI, a charge to the sender's payment card account in an amount equal to the transfer amount. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the sending FI from the payment system, a message indicating an unsuccessful funds transfer request and termination of the transaction; and   transmitting, by the sending FI to the MNO, the unsuccessful funds transfer message.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the unsuccessful funds transfer message indicates one of that the recipient account number is invalid or that the recipient account number cannot be determined. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising transmitting, by the MNO, the unsuccessful funds transfer message to the sender's mobile telephone number. 
     
     
         13 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a processor;   a communication device operably connected to the processor; and   a storage device operably connected to the processor, wherein the storage device stores instructions configured to cause the processor to:
 receive from a mobile network operator (MNO) in a first country, a request for a funds transfer to a recipient associated with a receiving FI located in a second country, wherein the funds transfer request includes the sender's mobile telephone number and transaction data, wherein the transaction data comprises the sender's name and residential address, an amount of money to be transferred, and a destination mobile telephone number of the recipient; 
 translate the sender's mobile telephone number into a sender's payment card account number; 
 determine that the sender's payment card account associated with the sender's payment card account number contains one of adequate funds or a sufficient credit facility to support the amount of money to be transferred; 
 transmit the transaction data and the sender's payment card account number to a payment system that handles at least one of debit card and credit card transactions; 
 receive from the payment system a payment confirmation message including an indication of a recipient payment card account, the receiving FI, and the recipient's name and residential address to satisfy compliance with know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements; and 
 transmit a remittance confirmation message to the MNO in the first country. 
   
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the storage device further comprises a customer database configured for storing customer names and associated residential addresses, payment card account numbers, mobile telephone numbers and identification documents. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the processor is further operative to:
 prior to receiving a request for a funds transfer, receive from the mobile network operator (MNO) remittance customer data comprising a customer's name, residence address, mobile telephone number and documentation verifying the customer's identity and residence address;   generate a payment card account number for the customer;   store the remittance customer data in association with the customer's payment card account number; and   transmit to a translation server, the customer's mobile telephone number in association with the customer's payment card account number.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the processor is further operative to:
 prior to receiving a request for a funds transfer, receive from a customer, remittance customer data comprising the customer's name, residence address, mobile telephone number and documentation verifying the customer's identity and residence address;   generate a payment card account number for the customer;   store the remittance customer data in association with the customer's payment card account number; and   transmit to a translation server, the customer mobile telephone number in association with the customer's payment card account number.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the processor is further operative to:
 prior to transmitting the transaction data and the sender's payment card account number, assign a unique transaction identification number to the funds transfer request; and   transmit the unique identification number to the payment system along with the transaction data and the sender's payment card account number.   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the instructions for determining that the sender's payment card account contains one of adequate funds or a sufficient credit facility to support the amount of money to be transferred are further configured to cause the processor to:
 transmit to a funding FI that issued the sender's payment card account, the transaction data; and   receive from the funding FI, an authorization indicating that the sender's payment card account includes one of adequate funds or an adequate credit facility to support the transfer amount.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the processor is further operative to, prior to translating the sender's mobile telephone number into a sender's payment card account number, generate a special code that indicates that the sender FI and the recipient FI at least one of have included or will include KYC information and AML information for the sender and the recipient. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the processor is further operative to store the KYC information and the AML information. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the processor is further operative to apply a charge to the sender's payment card account in an amount equal to the transfer amount. 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the processor is further operative to:
 receive from the payment system, a message indicating an unsuccessful funds transfer request and termination of the transaction; and   transmit to the MNO, the unsuccessful funds transfer message.