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UPU - Postal Financial Services
Worldwide Electronic Postal Payment Network
IFS Mobile Extensions
UPU Forum: Mobile Technologies as a catalyst
for financial inclusion by Posts
5 November 2014 - PTC, David Avsec

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IFS goes
mobile!

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• A worldwide, secured network dedicated to postal money transfers,
supporting any type of payment (cash/account/speed). With:
• Three technical solutions, adapted to any kind of volume and IT
environment: IFS, IFS.post (cloud solution), STEFI (gateway)
• A clearing house and an automated settlement solution (USD/EUR)
• Online services:
• For quality monitoring and control, real time (QCS)
• A compendium of services, to facilitate commercial and operational
relationships between members of the network
• A system to manage and settle exceptions/claims, the Financial
Electronic Inquiry System (FEIS)
All these IT solutions are owned by the users. The UPU is providing the
technology and is not a payment service provider taking a commission on
every transaction. Users are therefore autonomous to decide on the
payment services they provide, and can offer the best possible transfer
costs to populations.
Reminder. IFS is:

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Our technologies were already deployed in many countries where:
• Most of the populations live in rural areas
• Posts are present in rural areas, but suffer from weak infrastructures:
• Electricity (not permanent, or instable)
• Internet not always available
• Landline phones also not always there
Challenge was to answer the request from our users, and:
Bring a technology to these rural post offices, so they can be
online and provide a powerful, secured, basic financial service:
the possibility to transfer money (domestically and
internationally) quickly, and at low costs
Environment and challenges

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…Challenges turned into a set of requirements:
• Highly secured solution
• Easy to deploy (and upgrade in the future)
• User friendly, easy to use (including with multi-language support)
• For all types of payments, international and domestic
• To complement, but also in some cases replace, the existing
technologies (desktop application, Web application)
• Independent of any mobile phone network
• Flexible and ready for future developments:
• to become an integrated “light” point of sales on mobile devices
• to reach customers’ devices for autonomous mobile payments
…and all this without increasing the IFS yearly costs for user DO
Requirements

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We chose to develop an App for smartphones and tablets:
• Android platform (other platforms in the future if required by our
users)
• Backbone remains the IFS national database of the DO: the App is
an additional interface to the IFS system
We chose to go for total paperless operations:
• Receipts to customers take the form of an SMS
• Notification messages also sent via SMS
Solution

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Live demonstration

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Architecture and data flows
Beneficiary
Sender
Sending
Operator
Paying
Operator
Phone call, or SMS, to notify of money transfer
Money order
instructions
Notification
SMS
Clearing
House
Electronic
receipt by SMS
Quality of
Service
Settlement
Bank
Mobile payment platform: a good background infrastructure is needed

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IFS access points
IFS now offers the following access points to send/receive payments:
In post office
Web Application
Mobile App
Cash payments,
customer without
any kind of account
Internet/Mobile Banking
Example: web portal of
La Banque Postale in France
Example: mobile App of
Al Barid Bank in Morocco
Money transfers from/to
accounts, with the front end
(web portal, mobile App)
developed by the DO
What’s Next?
Continue to integrate
post office transactions
(financial, mail,
logistics, eCommerce)
into a simple POS
system delivered as a
mobile App
Develop a mobile
wallet solution (access
to mobile finance for
the customers without
accounts)

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Postal OrganizationUPU
Backbone
Interfaces
IFS Technologies
Partners
MTO
Money
Transfer
Operator
MMO
Mobile
Money
Operator
Bank
CPS
Card
Payment
System
Light (Cloud)
Banking system
eWallet system
Postal
Hub
POS system
Mobile solutions
Future evolutions 1
Development of partnerships
Payment Services:
Other Posts
MTOs
MMOs
Banks
CPS

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Domestic money transfers
International money transfers
eCommerce payments(COMPAS)
Pre-payment, escrow Service
Clearing
Cloud banking solutions
Mobile
wallet/transfers/payments
Other networks
Card payments
Other Online Services
Electronic Customs declarations
Prohibitions & restrictions detection
Postal and transport security checks
Landed costs calculations
International mail processing
Accounting of international services
Processing of returned mail items
Financial Services
Airlines systems
Customs systems
Mail and Logistic Services
Post*Code database
Postal address validation
Global track and trace
Postal export guide
Other online publications
Global repository of postal
eShops (GLORYPOSE)
Quality of service
Inquiries and claims
SME /
Merchants
.post
Post*Net Mail - Post*Net Finance
Customers
Service
Access Points
Post office
Home via PC or mobile
Identification
Post ID
Interfaces
Interfaces
IFSIPS + CDS
Future evolutions 2
eCommerce postal platform

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78% of countries signatory to the Postal Payment Services Agreement will use the IFS
family in 2014/2015
131 countries can be reached including partner networks
• 69 Posts in production
• 8 Posts in advanced test
• 14 Posts have started planning
• 117 signatory countries of PPSA
Users in production (Oct 2014)
Advanced testing
Planning started
Connectable through partner
(Instant Cash and Eurogiro)
The UPU’s payment network
Service deployment

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Thank you for your attention!
Contacts:
David Avsec
Account Relationship Coordinator
Deputy Director, PTC
+41 31 350 35 41
david.avsec@upu.int