DLT-enabled solution for faster and safer payment processing

ABSTRACT

TCS Quartz provides foundational technology, tools, and business components for creating distributed ledger solutions across varied industries.

The Quartz suite of solutions are architected for co-existence, integration, and interoperability, enabling customers to assimilate DLT into their businesses seamlessly.
 

Challenge

Cross-border payments or any remittance using traditional rails is a multistep process involving many intermediaries. Each step is time consuming and could potentially have security loopholes. Additionally, due to multiple hops and middlemen, the cost per transaction remains high. This demands for a more secure, efficient, and inexpensive payments process, be it fiat or digital currencies.

Blockchain ensured decentralized, immutable, and secure operations for organizations and helped streamline the entire process by cutting out any and all middlemen and lengthy procedures, thereby saving time. With this improved efficiency, remittances are instantaneous, and the fundamentally secure distributed ledgers technology (DLT) ensures the data is safe. With the additional feature of immutability, the transactions can’t be reversed or changed, making it more transparent and a trusted source of information.
 

Solution

Quartz Smart solutions for banking and payments include:

• Inter-bank ledgers - DLT can help banks in reimagining their existing business processes effectively through automation. With its unique combination of off-chain and on-chain services, the smart solution for interbank ledgers provides seamless integration with the bank's existing systems while simplifying operational aspects such as asset sharing, compliance approvals, and lender query resolutions.
• Digital guarantees - The Digital Bank Guarantee platform, powered by Quartz connects individuals, corporates, and the government to guarantee issuers (banks and other financial institutions) and provides a digitalized lifecycle for bank guarantees alongside a marketplace where both issuers and beneficiaries can manage their digital guarantee portfolio, including issuance, extension, and cancellation.
• Crypto Services - Smart Solutions for Crypto Services secure crypto custody and transaction processing for banks and financial institutions. With Crypto Services, financial entities can streamline crypto asset transfer through seamless integration with multiple public blockchains like the Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash etc. The solution provides connectivity with multiple crypto exchanges and OTC desks to enable the smooth buying and selling of crypto assets.
• Cross-border remittances leveraging DLT-based ecosystems/solution - The Cross-border Remittance solution enables banks/payments systems to connect to the newer DLT-based payment infrastructures (like RippleNet) for processing cross-border FX remittance transactions. The gateway seamlessly connects the TCS BaNCS for Payments solution to the blockchain platform using APIs and supports services related to FX quote finalization and debit/credit of beneficiary accounts. Leveraging this approach, existing/core systems operational at banks/other payment institutions don’t have to make changes to their existing applications when connecting to the blockchain platform, as this complexity is absorbed by the Quartz Gateway solution.
• Proxy Resolution - The Proxy Resolution solution from Quartz comprises a private permissioned blockchain ecosystem where banks can connect to enable secure payment transactions for their end customers. The solution ensures that sensitive personal financial information is protected, and payment transactions can be initiated without the complete bank account information of payees.
   

Benefits

• Real-time exchange and availability of information for all the participating banks in the ecosystem
• Eliminates the potential for frauds and mitigates against possibility of loss of physical documents
• Ready connectivity to public blockchains, Hardware Security Module (HSM) devices, and select marketplaces to launch digital asset custody and transaction services
• Elimination of reconciliation overheads -- Accounting entries can be performed directly in the core systems, based on status updates
• Better dispute handling for banks due to availability of audit trail/ transaction logs