Unit 6. Taxation

Ex. 19. Read the article below carefully to find specific information about paper-based payment systems, electronic funds transfer systems, and recent tendencies in the development of payment systems.

Paper-based systems are slow and costly to operate, involving physical movement of paper which must be sorted and cleared. They are prone to error, delays or disruptions because of returned cheques, missing documents or errors in data capture.

In recent years some countries have speeded up the documentation flows due to the rapid innovation of telecommunications and bank computer technology which has revolutionized payment systems. It is particularly true of debit or credit card-based transactions, in which bank customers may give instructions to effect funds transfers electronically through automated teller machines (ATMs), terminals or at retail outlets which operate electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS). EFT systems have the advantage of speed, accuracy, convenience and greater efficiency relative to paper-based systems, but are much more costly to install and technologically complex to maintain.

Most developed countries now maintain a mixture of paper-based and EFT systems.

Modern payment systems generally cover the following key components:

a. cheque clearing system;

b. automated clearing houses for bank EFT payments;

c. credit/debit card systems including ATMs and EFTPOS;

d. giro payment system;

e. interbank funds transfer system (such as Fedwire); and

f. securities market clearing/settlement system.

Modern banking technology enables payment systems to handle larger volumes of information faster, with greater accuracy, thus reducing the float and the time lag between a transaction and its settlement. As banking systems and financial markets become more inter-linked, payment systems have become increasingly interconnected through harmonized document and telecommunication standards. The greater the degree of harmonization of standards, the more efficient the information flows.

Banks that engage in foreign trade and foreign exchange transactions find it useful to become part of the international electronic message switching network operated by SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications).

Since payment systems also develop hand in hand with the volume of market transactions, modern payment systems are increasingly integrated with financial market settlement systems, where market transactions are automatically matched with payment instructions and settled on time.

Words you may need:

paper-based system система, основанная на обработке документов в бумажном виде

to be prone to error приводить к ошибкам, не исключать ошибок

delay n задержка

disruption n срыв, нарушение

data capture (зд.) считывание данных

documentation flow документопоток

to effect funds transfer осуществлять перевод средств

terminal терминал retail outlet торговая точка

electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS) система электронных платежей в пункте продажи

giro payment system система жироплатежей (почтовая)

Fedwire «Федуаер» – система электронной связи, принадлежащая Федеральной

резервной системе США

float n срок между предъявлением чека в банк и его оплатой

time lag временный лаг, отставание, запаздывание

SWIFT СВИФТ

Дата добавления: 2014-11-29