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The Electronic Clearance Service (ECS) scheme provides an alternative method of effecting bulk payment transactions like periodic (monthly/ quarterly/ half-yearly/ yearly) payments of interest/ salary/ pension/ commission/ dividend/ refund by Banks/Companies /Corporations /Government Departments. The transactions under this scheme move from a single User source (i.e. Banks/Companies /Corporations /Government Departments) to a large number of Destination Account Holders (Customers/Investors).

Electronic Clearing System (ECS) is an electronic method of fund transfer from one bank account to another. It is generally used for bulk transfers performed by institutions for making payments like dividend, interest, salary, pension, etc. ECS can also be used to pay bills and other charges such as payments to utility companies such as telephone, electricity, water, or for making equated monthly instalments payments on loans as well as SIP investments.

This scheme obviates the need for issuing and handling paper instruments and thereby facilitates improved customer service by the Banks and Companies/Corporations/Government Departments effecting bulk payments.

The Scheme is in operation at 15 centers where Reserve Bank of India manages Clearing Houses, 21 centers where SBI is managing ECS on behalf of RBI and 29 other centers where PNB and other banks are managing ECS on behalf of RBI.

The ECS is being offered in the Department of Posts in connection with payment of monthly interest under “Monthly Income Scheme” (MIS). The Department of Posts introduced ECS scheme on a pilot basis in Mumbai City on 9th August 2003. Under ECS, the depositors have the facility of getting MIS interest automatically transferred and credited into their SB account on the due dates at the designated Bank of their choice. Currently, the service is available in the Department of Posts at 15 RBI locations and 21 SBI locations.

Types:

ECS can be used for both ECS credit and ECS debit.

Advantages

The benefits of ECS credit given to the clients are as follows:

• Delay in the realisation of proceeds, which used to happen in the receipt of the paper instrument, is eliminated.
• The end beneficiary need not make frequent visit to his bank for depositing the physical paper instruments.
• The ECS user helps to save on administrative machinery for printing, dispatch and reconciliation.
• Provides the ability to make payment and ensure that the beneficiaries account gets credited on a designated date.

The benefits of ECS debit given to the clients are as follows:

• Easy to track: Customers are not required to track down payments by last dates. The ECS users would monitor the debts. The ECS user saves on administrative machinery for collecting the cheques by monitoring their realisation and reconciliation.
• Trouble-free: Eliminates the need to go to the collection centres or banks and the need to stand in long queues for payment.
• The realisation of payments on a single date is enabled instead of fractured receipt of payments.
• Better cash management: Chances of frauds due to fraudulent access to paper instruments and encashment are avoided.

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is a division of Indian Post which is under the ownership of the Department of Post a department under Ministry of Communications of the Government of India. Opened in 2018, the bank had acquired about 4.0 crore customers by December 2020.

On 19 August 2015, the India Post received licence to run a payments bank from the Reserve Bank of India. On 17 August 2016, it was registered as a public limited government company for setting up a payments bank. IPPB is operating with the Department of Posts under Ministry of Communications.

The pilot project of IPPB was inaugurated on 30 January 2017 at Raipur and Ranchi. In August 2018, the Union Cabinet approved a cost of ₹1,435 crore (US$190 million) for setting up the bank. The first phase of the bank with 650 branches and 3,250 post offices as access points was inaugurated on 1 September 2018. Over ten thousand postmen have been roped into the first phase. By September 2020, the bank had acquired about 3.5 crore customers.

Merchants Benefits

• Cost-effective

No charges for downloading, registering and accepting digital payments

• Easy payment management

Use IPPB’s innovative Merchant App, which can be easily downloaded onto your smartphone

• Simple and secure

Accept digital payments from your customers

• Doorstep banking

Get cash management services at your doorstep

• Instant information

Access your account statements and reports at any time

• Track your business

Build a transaction history that enables you to create your positive credit score

• Drive a digital ecosystem

​​​​​​​Avoid hassles of managing loose cash, small change, counterfeit notes or soiled notes

India Post presents Instant Money ​Order (iMO), the instant on-line money transfer service that is instant, convenient, reliable and affordable.​

iMO is an instant web-based money transfer service through Post Offices (iMO Centre) in India between two resident individuals in Indian territory. You can transfer money from INR 1,000/- to INR 50,000/- from designated iMO Post Offices. It is simple to send and receive money.

Money booked through Instant Money Order can be disbursed within 15 minutes of Booking. You can receive the payment in cash. You can also receive the payment through your post office savings bank account in the same Instant Money Order office.

Money Transfer Service Scheme is a quick and easy way of transferring personal remittances from abroad to beneficiaries in India. Only inward personal remittances into India such as remittances towards family maintenance and remittances favoring foreign tourists visiting India are permissible. No outward remittance from India is permissible under MTSS.

As a result of the collaboration of the Department of Posts, Government of India with the Western Union Financial Services, a state-of-the-art International Money transfer Service is now available through the Post Offices in India, which enables instantaneous remittance of money from around 195 countries and territories to India. The recipients can in fact collect the money in minutes after the sender has made the remittance.

The service is targeted to particularly fulfill the needs of NRI dependent families in India, visiting international tourists and foreign students studying in India.

The relationship began in 2001. Since then the two have offered money transfer services to a cross-section of customers and grown to 4200 agent locations throughout India including remote areas like Ladhak and Leh.

“Our successful relationship with India Post is of great significance as it has helped us build closer ties with our customers in India. We further intend to leverage the vast network of India Post to reach out to more people who require fast and secure money transfer service,” says Kapur, Western Union.

Noorjahan, Chief Post Master General, Maharashtra, India Post adds, “Our relationship with Western Union has given us the opportunity to provide our customers with an expanded array of services. Through Western Union, our customers in the remotest parts of the country can now receive money from almost any part of the world in a few minutes.” During the year April 2003 to December 2003, India Post paid out Rs 20 crore as remittances through their tie-up with Western Union.

Apart from communicating with Indians, the objective of the road shows is to generate and sustain visibility and communicate brand values. Both India Post and Western Union also conducted a similar road show in UK and US to talk to the Indian communities there.

To avail of this Service, a remitter goes to any one of the Western Union locations in the countries in which the Service operates , fills up a form to send the amount and pays principal amount and charges. The sender gets a unique Money Transfer Control Number / Reference Number on a receipt after the transaction is sent through the system. Thereafter, the sender calls up his/her payee and gives information on the money sent. The Payee / Receiver goes to the Post Office fills up a form to receive money, shows valid identification and receives money along with the receipt, once the transaction is verified. This entire process is completed within ten minutes.

​​The Payee receives the full amount in Indian Rupees. There is a maximum limit of 2500 USD that can be sent at a time as per applicable RBI regulations which must however be only for personal use.

Amounts up to INR. 50,000/- may be paid to the beneficiary in cash. Any amount exceeding this limit shall be paid by means of account payee Cheque or credited directly to the Savings Account standing in the Post Office in the name of the beneficiary. However, in case of foreign tourists, higher amounts can be payable in cash.

Only 30 transactions can be received by a single beneficiary in a calendar year.

The Post Offices have been directed to treat the payee as “Most Favoured Customers”, which ensures courteous and efficient service to them.

Under the KYC / AML / CFT guidelines issued by the RBI to prevent the system of cross border inward money transfer into India to be used by criminal elements for money laundering or terrorist financing activities, beneficiaries / recipients of the money transfers need to provide sufficient information necessary to establish their identity and proof of residence through reliable Govt issued documents like:

• Election Card
• Driving License
• PAN Card
• Ration Card
• Aadhar Card etc copy of which also has to be provided to the Post Office for receiving a transfer.

Wire transfer, bank transfer, or credit transfer, is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash office.

Different wire transfer systems and operators provide a variety of options relative to the immediacy and finality of settlement and the cost, value, and volume of transactions. Central bank wire transfer systems, such as the Federal Reserve’s Fedwire system in the United States, are more likely to be real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems, as they provide the quickest availability of funds. This is because they post the gross (complete) entry against electronic accounts of the wire transfer system operator. Other systems, such as the Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS), provide net settlement on a periodic basis. More immediate settlement systems tend to process higher monetary value time-critical transactions, have higher transaction costs, and have a smaller volume of payments. A faster settlement process allows less time for currency fluctuations while money is in transit.

Most international transfers are executed through SWIFT, a co-operative society founded in 1974 by seven international banks, which operate a global network to facilitate the transfer of financial messages. Using these messages, banks can exchange data for the transfer of funds between financial institutions. SWIFT’s headquarters are in La Hulpe, on the outskirts of Brussels, Belgium.

SWIFT also acts as a United Nations–sanctioned international standards body for the creation and maintenance of financial-messaging standards. See SWIFT Standards.

Each financial institution is assigned an ISO 9362 code, also called a Bank Identifier Code (BIC) or SWIFT Code. These codes are generally eight characters long. For example: Deutsche Bank is an international bank with its head office in Frankfurt, Germany, the SWIFT Code for which is DEUTDEFF:

• DEUT identifies Deutsche Bank.
• DE is the country code for Germany.
• FF is the code for Frankfurt.

Using an extended code of 11 digits (if the receiving bank has assigned extended codes to branches or to processing areas) allows the payment to be directed to a specific office. For example: DEUTDEFF500 would direct the payment to an office of Deutsche Bank in Bad Homburg. SWIFT deviates slightly from the standard, though, by using position nine for a Logical Terminal ID, making its extended codes 12 digits long.

European banks making transfers within the European Union and within Switzerland also use the International Bank Account Number, or IBAN.

SWIFT Transaction

SWIFT is a messaging network that financial institutions use to securely transmit information and instructions through a standardized system of codes.

SWIFT assigns each financial organization a unique code that has either eight characters or 11 characters. The code is interchangeably called the bank identifier code (BIC), SWIFT code, SWIFT ID, or ISO 9362 code. To understand how the code is assigned, let’s look at Italian bank UniCredit Banca, headquartered in Milan. It has the 8-character SWIFT code UNCRITMM.

• First four characters: the institute code (UNCR for UniCredit Banca)
• Next two characters: the country code (IT for the country Italy)
• Next two characters: the location/city code (MM for Milan)
• Last three characters: optional, but organizations use it to assign codes to individual branches.

Process

To avail of this Service, a remitter goes to any one of the Western Union locations in the countries in which the Service operates, fills up a form to send the amount and pays principal amount and charges. The sender gets a unique Money Transfer Control Number / Reference Number on a receipt after the transaction is sent through the system. Thereafter, the sender calls up his/her payee and gives information on the money sent. The Payee / Receiver goes to the Post Office fills up a form to receive money, shows valid identification and receives money along with the receipt, once the transaction is verified. This entire process is completed within ten minutes.

​​The Payee receives the full amount in Indian Rupees. There is a maximum limit of 2500 USD that can be sent at a time as per applicable RBI regulations which must however be only for personal use.

Amounts up to INR. 50,000/- may be paid to the beneficiary in cash. Any amount exceeding this limit shall be paid by means of account payee Cheque or credited directly to the Savings Account standing in the Post Office in the name of the beneficiary. However, in case of foreign tourists, higher amounts can be payable in cash.

Only 30 transactions can be received by a single beneficiary in a calendar year.

The Post Offices have been directed to treat the payee as “Most Favoured Customers”, which ensures courteous and efficient service to them.

Under the KYC / AML / CFT guidelines issued by the RBI to prevent the system of cross border inward money transfer into India to be used by criminal elements for money laundering or terrorist financing activities, beneficiaries / recipients of the money transfers need to provide sufficient information necessary to establish their identity and proof of residence through reliable Govt issued documents like:

• Election Card
• Driving License
• PAN Card
• Ration Card
• Aadhar Card etc copy of which also has to be provided to the Post Office for receiving a transfer.

​This International Money Transfer Service is safe, legal, fast & reliable. Also, it is approved by the Reserve Bank of India and is being provided by a Department of the Government of India i.e. the Department of Posts.​​

MoneyGram International, Inc. is an American cross-border P2P payments and money transfer company based in the United States with headquarters in Dallas, Texas. It has an operations center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota and regional and local offices around the world. MoneyGram businesses are divided into two categories: Global Funds Transfers and Financial Paper Products. The company provides its service to individuals and businesses through a network of agents and financial institutions.

In 2014, MoneyGram was the second largest provider of money transfers in the world. The company operates in more than 200 countries and territories with a global network of about 347,000 agent offices.

MoneyGram Systems (1988–1997)

MoneyGram was formed in 1988 as a subsidiary of Integrated Payment Systems Inc. Integrated Payment Systems was a subsidiary of First Data Corporation, which was itself a subsidiary of American Express. In 1992, First Data was spun off from American Express and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. First Data Corporation later merged with First Financial, the owners of rival Western Union. In order to approve the merger, the Federal Trade Commission forced First Data to sell Integrated Payment Systems.

Thomas Cook Global Foreign Exchange, under the stewardship of John Bavister, launched a re-engineered money transfer service in 1994. Branded as MoneyGram, the venture saw the partnering of the global travel giant with First Data Corp.

In 1996, Integrated Payment Systems, the nation’s second largest non-bank consumer money transfer business, became its own publicly traded company and was renamed MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc. In 1997, James F. Calvano, former president of Western Union, became MoneyGram Payment Systems CEO. By the late 1990s, MoneyGram Payment Systems had served customers at over 22,000 locations in 100 countries.

MoneyGram International Ltd. was established in 1997 by MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc. and Thomas Cook, a year after the company had gone public. At the time when MoneyGram International was established, MoneyGram Payment Systems owned 51 percent of the company, while the other 49 percent was owned by the Thomas Cook Group.

MoneyGram International (1998–present)

In April 1998, Viad Corp acquired MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc. for $287 million. MoneyGram was then folded into Viad’s Travelers Express in Minneapolis. In November 2000, the MoneyGram brand and business was sold to Travelex as part of its acquisition of Thomas Cook Financial Services for £400m. In 2003, Travelers Express gained full ownership of the MoneyGram network, including MoneyGram International. Later that year, Viad spun off Travelers Express as an independent company. In January 2004 and Travelers Express was renamed to MoneyGram International Inc. In June 2004, Viad sold MoneyGram and it became a publicly traded, individual entity.

By 2006, MoneyGram International had expanded internationally to include over 96,000 agents in regions such as the Asian-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and Central America. The company had also introduced additional services such as bill payment and online money transfers.

During the financial crisis of 2007–2008, MoneyGram’s shares fell 96 percent from 2007 to 2009. It lost more than $1.6 billion from investments in securities backed by risky mortgages in 2008, and the losses led the company to sell a majority stake to Thomas H. Lee Partners and Goldman Sachs in exchange for a cash infusion. During the drop, U.S. Bancorp shifted its money transfer services to Western Union. The company became profitable again in 2009.

Amid MoneyGram’s turnaround, Pamela Patsley became the executive chairwoman of the company in January 2009 and was later named CEO in September of that year. In November 2010, MoneyGram officially relocated its global headquarters to the city of Dallas, Texas. The company continues to maintain global operations and information technology centers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In 2013, MoneyGram began considering a sale. In 2014, MoneyGram lost a relationship with Wal-Mart Stores and then began restructuring to cut costs. From their peak in 2013 until late 2015, shares fell about 70%. MoneyGram closed a call center in Lakewood, Colorado resulting in over 500 layoffs. Furthermore, MoneyGram closed its 376-person Brooklyn Center operation in 2015. MoneyGram has moved numerous positions to Warsaw, Poland from its Colorado and Minnesota locations for cut costs further. In 2015, the company’s agent network in Africa reached 25,000 locations, including an agreement with the Mauritius Post Office.

Between late October 2016 and January 2017, MoneyGram’s shares doubled in value. On January 26, 2017, Ant Financial Services Group announced a deal to acquire MoneyGram International for $880 million; the deal subsequently collapsed after it was rejected by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

On June 17th 2019, MoneyGram announced they were partnering with Ripple to utilize the digital asset XRP for cross-border remittance.

In July 2020, Digital Financial Services LLC and MoneyGram have collaborated to provide overseas remittance services in the UAE. Through this partnership, eWallet consumers will enable real-time foreign money transfers to friends and families in more than 200 countries and territories around the world through an vast network of mobile wallet providers, bank account deposit facilities and more than 350,000 walk-in locations.

If you’re sending money online:

• Set up a MoneyGram account, if you don’t already have one.
• Log into your account.
• Enter the country you’re sending to, then the amount you want to send. Remember, MoneyGram will add a fee to the figure you’re charged.
• Give the receiver’s details. The name you give must be their full, legal name, meaning the one that appears on their official ID. They’ll need to prove their identity to pick up the funds, so it’s important to check you get this right.
• Say how the receiver wants to pick up their money to a bank account or mobile wallet, or in cash.
• Choose how you want to pay. You can fund the transfer either from your bank account, or with a credit or debit card. Be aware that if you choose to pay by card, your issuer is likely to charge a fee.
• Give details about yourself. This is needed so that MoneyGram can check your identity. These will include your date of birth and email address.
• Check the information you’ve given is correct, then send.
• If MoneyGram needs further information, you’ll be contacted via the email address you gave, so it needs to be one you check every day.

If you’re sending money in person:

• You can only send money in cash using this method, not with a credit or debit card.
• Find the MoneyGram location that’s most convenient for you. You can use MoneyGram’s location finder to help you.
• Make sure you have your photo ID with you. You’ll need to show this to the agent.
• You’ll need to provide the recipient’s full, legal name as listed on their own ID.
• You’ll also need to know the recipient’s location, plus the amount you want to send.
• Remember that MoneyGram will charge a fee for sending money internationally, so make sure you have enough to cover that, as well as the amount you’re sending.
• Give the agent the correct amount, including the fee.
• You’ll get an eight-digit reference number. Let your recipient know this as soon as possible, as they’ll need it when picking up the money.

If you’re sending to an international bank account:

• Log into your MoneyGram online account. If you don’t have one already, you’ll need to set it up first.
• Provide the full, legal name of the person you’re sending to.
• Select the “Account Deposit” option.
• You’ll now see the total cost including fees, as well as the exchange rate you’re getting.
• You may want to compare the total costs with a specialist money service, such as Wise. The Wise borderless account is an alternative way to send money internationally; it also gives you an account you can use to receive funds in dozens of currencies.
• Choose how you want to pay. This can be with a credit or debit card, or if you prefer you can pay straight from your own account. Paying with a credit card can cost a little extra due to card issuer fees.
• Enter the requested personal information. This is to ensure MoneyGram can verify your identity.
• Provide full details of the recipient. You’ll need to know their bank account number.
• Check the information you’ve given is correct, then send.

If you’re sending to a mobile wallet:

• Check the country you’re sending to offers this service. MoneyGram can only send to wallets with M-Pesa accounts in Tanzania, Kenya, and Romania; or to Econet wallets in Zimbabwe.
• If you don’t meet the requirements in step 1, you’ll need to use a different method to send your money. If you do meet them, read on.
• You’ll need to give the mobile number of the person you’re sending money to, including the international dial code. Check with them first that the number is linked to their wallet, otherwise the transaction won’t work.
• The international dial codes you’ll need to know are: +40 for Romania, +254 for Kenya, +255 for Tanzania, and +263 for Zimbabwe.
• Choose whether to pay with cash, or with a credit or debit card. Remember that credit card transactions may come with a fee added on by your card issuer.
• Provide the information requested about yourself.
• Check everything is correct, then commit to send.

Products

MoneyGram products

MoneyGram Money Transfer

MoneyGram Bill Payments Services allowing consumers to make urgent payments or pay routine bills to certain creditors.

MoneyGram As a service; enables enterprise customers to leverage the company’s core capabilities as productized service offerings to meet their various business needs and add services and scale.

Financial paper

Money Orders: MoneyGram is the second largest money order supplier.

Official Checks: MoneyGram offers official check outsourcing services which are available to financial institutions in the United States. Official Checks are used by consumers where a payee requires a check drawn on a bank and by financial institutions to pay their own obligations.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency Cash Network: Through a relationship with Coinme, consumers can purchase or exchange bitcoin for U.S. dollars at select MoneyGram retail locations.