GSIT - Vos questions / Nos réponses

Your questions / Our answers

The French interbank institutions
Participation in the SIT and its usage
The means of payment exchanged on the SIT

The means of payment exchanged on the SIT

What comprises a SIT transaction?

Each transaction issued on the SIT consists of two parts:

a zone of 80 characters, verified at the time of SIT input and known as the “SIT Zone”,
a variable length zone, depending on the transaction type (initial transaction, rejection, cancellation...), which is not verified by the SIT and is known as the “Bank Zone”.

The “SIT Zone includes, amongst other information, the bank code of the beneficiary customer. For the transaction’s routing, this bank code is verified relative to a routing table which, for each bank code, indicates the SIT network exit point. If this bank code does not exist in the routing table, the transaction is sent back to the sender. If this bank code exists, the transaction is routed through the SIT and must necessarily be processed by the recipient bank, which can reject it if the account number does not exist, if the account is closed, ...

What is the SIT operational cycle regarding rejections?

In the SIT operational cycle, there are:

file refusals, remittance refusals and unit transaction refusals after the system input verifications (during the hand-off phase),
from a banking standpoint: the recipient banks can reject transactions (deceased customer, absence of provision, account unknown, etc.), while sender banks can issue transaction cancellations, particularly in case of transactions that have been sent twice. The SIT considers these transactions (rejections and cancellations) as new transactions, without links with the original transactions.

What is the operational cycle for direct debits?

To issue direct debits, a company must have a NNE (National Issuer Number), which it requests from the Banque de France. The customer signs a double order on two sheets provided by the company:

a withdrawal request, to authorise the company to issue direct debits payable on its account,
a withdrawal authorisation, sent by the company to the bank of the customer to authorise the latter to debit its account for the amount of the direct debits.

Each month (or each quarter), the company:

informs the customer, before submitting the withdrawal, by mailing and invoice, a notice, a schedule, a statement,...
delivers the direct debits to its bank in the form of IT files (teletransmission, cassettes, diskettes,...).

The company’s bank issues the direct debits on the SIT, with an interbank settlement date of D+4. Upon reception, the customer’s bank verifies:

the validity of the banking information,
the existence of the withdrawal authorisation,
the availability of the provision in the customer’s account,
the absence of non-payment instructions from the customer.

After these verifications, the customer’s bank (if there are no problems), debits its customer’s account.
The interbank settlement between the customer’s bank and the company’s bank occurs 4 business days after the withdrawal’s exchange via the SIT.
There are other types of direct debits: TIP, Telesettlement...

How is a credit transfer exchanged over the SIT?

For each transaction type, the Banking profession has defined an exchange period with which a determined interbank settlement date is associated.
A credit transfer is exchanged virtually in real-time via the SIT, between the bank processing centres of the issuing and receiving banks. “Virtually” in real-time means that the SIT application is not “interactive” as in a “client-server” application, though the SIT carries out file transfers as they arrive throughout the day, according to the transmissions from sender banks to the recipient banks.

At present, the maximum length of transactions that can be exchanged over the SIT is 2,048 characters. A SIT credit transfer currently consists of 320 characters.
The debit and credit are posted at the same time in the Sender Bank and the Recipient Bank. In fact, according to the type of transaction, there can be a gap between the exchange period and the settlement date between the two banks.
For example, a direct debit exchanged today before 7 p.m. will be settled between the two banks within 4 business days. However, a credit transfer exchanged today before 1:30 p.m. will be irrevocably settled today by 3:45 p.m.

What is the operational cycle for credit transfers?

The beneficiary customer provides its banking information to the individual our company that will be sending money to it. The originator company or customer provides its bank with the payment order (on paper or by teletransmission, diskette or cassettes for companies: credit transfers of salaries or social transfers). The originator’s bank can exchange the credit transfer a few days in advance, though the transfer can also be exchanged on the same day as the interbank settlement date.

What are the solutions for automating the signing of cheque and credit transfer settlements?

The only interbanking standard that includes an electronic signing mechanism is the ETEBAC 5 system for secure file transfers between banks and their corporate customers. The principle is that the clientele orders (e.g. credit transfers) are stored in computerized format in a file which is globally signed by means of a microprocessor card device that uses the RSA algorithm. The bank verifies the signature and issues its own signed acknowledgment of receipt.
This system has been operational since 1991. Approximately 10 vendors sell software intended for customers or banks and that include an ETEBAC 5 module
The signature cards are distributed to the banks and companies (via the banks) by the Groupement des Cartes Bancaires “CB”.

The entire ETEBAC 5 is under the responsibility of the CFONB - Standing Committee on Bank Organization. For its part, the GSIT distributes the ETEBAC 5 standard technical description document.

Has the maximum amount of FF 5 million for transfers accepted in the SIT been officially converted for the switch to the euro?

he CFONB has published a circular on the switching of thresholds to the euro (FBF2001/188), which you can obtain from that institution. The 5 MF threshold corresponds to 800,000 euros.

How can one obtain the EIC specifications?

This document is distributed by the French Banking Federation.