WO2014024150A1

WO2014024150A1 - Method and system for intermediate analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments

Info

Publication number: WO2014024150A1
Application number: PCT/IB2013/056466
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dimitre Yordanov APOSTOLOV
Original assignee: VALLY Muhammed
Current assignee: VALLY Muhammed
Priority date: 2012-08-07
Filing date: 2013-08-07
Publication date: 2014-02-13
Anticipated expiration: 2015-02-07
Also published as: BG111283A

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR i , ' T L MEDIATE ANALYSIS. CONTROL _.AND

PElAUTHORjS LQN OF _.Θ H ^■ ~ΟΊ; -^VMENTS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an electronic payment preauthorisation system and method, suitable for use in the banking sector. In particular the invention relates to an improved method and a system for intermediate analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Electronic payment systems and methods are well known in the art. Conventionally, the universal method for effecting electronic payments include providing an electronic point of sale (POS) terminal proprietary to an identified financial institution (or payment requesting bank) that is located at a merchant premises. The POS includes a card reader that reads and conveys a potential purchasers card and associated account information to the payment requesting bank when the card is swiped at the POS. The card may include any one of a credit card, a fleet card, a loyalty card, autobank card or debit/cheque card and is typically proprietary to a card issuing bank. The payment requesting bank and card issuing bank may be the same bank or different banks. The method extends to the payment requesting bank being in communication with an independent bank switch that relays payment request generated at the POS to the card issuing bank for purposes of authorising payment in relation to the payment request. The payment request is interrogated for compliance with certain customer-specific secure information that is held as confidential by the bank and/or the purchaser. This information is referred to further herein as formal financial criteria. If the formal financial criteria allied to the payment request agree with the bank held secure customer information, the payment request is authorized and that authorization is then communicated back to the payment requesting bank as authorized and ultimately to the POS terminal along the same path of communication delineated above and payment is effected from the purchaser^'s account to the merchant's account within a few days thereafter. Of course, where the formal financial criteria do not agree with bank held secure customer information, the payment request is refused and the transaction is denied. This denial is also communicated back along the communications path outline above.

In the scenario above, the customer may be an individual or alternatively may be a business. In the case of the latter, the business typically has corporate credit cards, or a vehicle fleet card where vehicle fleets are utilized within the business, and the like. The fleet card can be used to purchase petroleum and/or petroleum products, as well as services for the maintenance and running of a specified vehicle within the fleet.

Customer accounts may also feature a optional loyalty rewards programme, such as the so-called eBucks Loyalty Rewards Programme. Loyalty rewards, or eBucks, once collected, may be used as a set off against any or all transactions effected during a given period.

The above-described method extends to a system for effecting financial transactions wherein the method as described above is used by a plurality of POS terminals allied to individual payment requesting banks, and to in turn link these payment requesting banks via the independent bank switch to card issuing banks, thereby forming a communications network as between banks via the independent bank switch. This transmission and receipt of payment requests by payment requesting banks and subsequent approval or denial by the card- issuing bank works for all transactions irrespective of where in the world the account is held relative to the location of the POS.

Other electronic transactions that are gaining popularity, such as internet-based transactions and cellular banking transactions are also subject to the same method and system described hereinabove, and is in particular subject to the same scrutiny of formal financial criteria interrogation as against secure client information, as herein described. In these instances the POS is merely substituted with a mobile device in the case of cellular banking, and in the case of internet-based transactions, the POS is represented by an internet banking platform, typically 128-bit encrypted and in most instances is operated by a third party bank or financial services institution.

The above transactions of this nature take some time (several seconds) to be processed and are thus, strictly speaking, not real-time and may thus prove disadvantageous.

In addition, the formal financial criteria against which payment requests are interrogated, are bank-defined. While customers have an opportunity to populate fields associated with these criteria, the customer is bound to this information only as the means or agency for checking and sorting legitimate transactions from fraudulent ones. This may represent a further disadvantage as the limitation of customer intervention may be viewed as unattractive. Further, the use of conventional payment systems does not allow the account holder or purchaser to have intermediate control over the authorisation of transactions over their accounts and prevents clients from being able to preauthorise certain transactions. The lack of control by the account holder may be further disadvantageous to both bank and account holder, whereby either could wrongly be held financially responsible for transactions that ordinarily would not have been authorised. OBJ INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide for a new or improved method and system for the intermediate analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments which, at least in part, obviates the disadvantages associated with the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with a first embodiment of the invention there is provided a method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments, suitable for use in the banking sector, the method comprising the steps of:

- generating a payment request by an account holder at a payment platform and sending the payment request from the payment platform to a payment requesting bank;

- communicating the payment request via a communications network to a bank switch, and thereafter to a card-issuing bank for compliance with predetermined formal financial criteria defined by the card-issuing bank, and if compliance is met, authorising payment to be made against the payment request, or if compliance is not met, declining the payment request;

- the method characterised in that the invention includes an intermediate step whereby the payment request is immediately upon generation of the payment request sent to an analytical block wherein the payment request is interrogated for compliance against pre-determined informal financial criteria defined by the card holder and held securely within the analytical block, wherein if the payment request complies with the informal financial criteria, payment is authorized and communicated to a card-issuing bank for processing, and if compliance is not met, the payment request will be denied.

The invention includes the further step of communicating the denied payment request to a control block located within the analytical block, whereupon the payment request is communicated to the account holder.

The invention provides that the informal financial criteria relates to confidential account holder-defined information, which the account holder may pre-define and communicate to the control block, either as a once-off, or as ad hoc instructions. In particular, the informal financial criteria may be, but not limited to, a client transaction identification pre-approval, a transaction amount limitation, a time period access limitation, card presenter identification, password identification, and the like. A person skilled in the art would readily appreciate that this feature provides no limitation on the type of criteria that the account holder may choose and actual embodiments of same in theory unlimited. There is also provided that the account holder exercises control over the preauthorisation of payment requests by predetermining and setting the parameters and content of the informal criteria, which can be changed or updated from time to time at the account holder's full discretion.

The invention provides that the payment platform may include any suitable platform for generating/receiving and transmitting the payment request. In particular, this may be in the form of, but not limited thereby, a point of sale (such as a card reading machine) as is known in the art, an internet banking software platform, and internet payment gateway, an automatic teller machine, cellular or telephonic banking, and the like. Furthermore, the payment platform may be internal or inter-bank software for generating and/or requesting and communicating a payment request to the card-issuing bank, typically used in the generation, transmittal and effecting of debit order transactions. There is further provided, according to the invention, for the communications network to be either a wired communications network, or a wireless communications network. Either wired or wireless communications network may include, as appropriate, any one of the following list of communications networks, namely, a global system for mobile GSM communications and/or USSD (Uninstructed Supplementary Services Data) and/or a satellite communications module having a subscriber identification module (SIM) cardholder and card and/or a wireless 802.1 1 -based W/LAN. Typically, the communications network is a secure and encrypted communications network, including 128-bit encryption.

There is yet further provided, according to the invention, that the bank switch may be independent or part of either or both of the payment requesting bank or the card-issuing bank, alternatively the bank switch may belong to the same affiliated group to which either bank belongs.

The analytical block may be part of the bank switch, or may be independent of the bank switch. The analytical block may include the control block. The analytical block and the control block may be part of an information database. The invention further provides for communication of the payment request from the control block, once authorized for payment, to the card-issuing bank, for further interrogation of the payment request by the card-issuing bank as against formal financial criteria. The communication from the control block to the card- issuing bank may be via the bank switch, or may emanate from within the bank switch, alternatively may be directly to the card issuing bank from the control block.

The formal financial criteria may be confidential information stored securely by the card-issuing bank, and may include information such as account holder personal details, personal identification number (PIN), CVV number (where a credit or debit card is used), card expiry date, and the like. The formal financial criteria are exemplified in that the information relates to client and /or account information and is controlled both in question and answer by bank pre-defined fields. There is still further provided, the method and system further include the step of communicating an authorization of payment, should the scrutiny of the payment request as against the formal financial criteria is passed, to the client and payment is effected through conventional banking means. The invention further provides that in the event that there is non-compliance with the informal criteria and the payment request is denied, a notification of such denial is sent to the requesting bank for subsequent communication to the account holder or customer. In a second example embodiment of the invention there is provided a method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments, the method including the steps of receiving a generated payment request, utilizing an analytical block to comparatively assess the payment request for compliance with predetermined informal criteria which informal criteria represent client defined assessment conditions and parameters, which informal criteria are pre- communicated to and retained within a control block within an information database, the payment request being authorised in the event that there is compliance by the payment request as against the informal criteria or denied if in the event that there is non-compliance with the informal criteria as against the payment request, and communicating such preauthorisation or denial with respect to the payment request to a user or a merchant.

There is also provided that the payment request is received from, and the authorisation or denial is communicated back to, a POS device, alternatively received from and communicated back to a banking platform that may be internet-based, or further alternatively received from and communicated back to a cellular telephone,

!n accordance with a third example embodiment of the invention there is provided a system for the analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments, the system comprising an analytical block to comparatively assess a received payment request for compliance with predetermined informal criteria, and a control block within an information database the control block retaining the predetermined informal criteria.

In accordance with a fourth example embodiment of the invention there is provided a system for the analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments, the system comprising, an electronic reading device connected to the server of a bank responsible for making the payment to a merchant who generated the payment request, an independent bank switch connected to the server of the bank responsible for making payment, an analytical block connected to the independent bank switch and at least one server of a card- issuing bank also connected to the independent bank switch. There is further provided that the analytical block is connected to a control block database and to monitoring platforms of supervising managers through an entry server and that the analytical block functions to comparatively assess, whether the payment request complies with predetermined informal criteria. There is further provided that the at least one server of the card-issuing bank functions to assess whether the payment request compiles with formal financial criteria after the assessment of the payment request with respect to informal criteria. There is also provided that the payment request is generated upon the scanning of an account holder's card by the electronic reading device. There is further provided that the card is selected from the group comprising: credit cards, fleet cards, loyalty cards, autobank cards and debit cards. The system and method as described herein may further be used in any application involving the transacting of money, such as debot card, credit card or fleet card transactions, and may also extend to related applications, such as the payment of medical aid claims by a medical aid scheme on behalf of a medical aid scheme member.

These, and other embodiments are discussed in further detail in what follows below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGURE 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for intermediary analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments in accordance with a second example embodiment of the invention; and

FIGURE 2 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the system and method according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described by way of non-limiting examples only, wherein a method for the analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments is generally shown by reference numeral 10. The method 10 is applied through the system described hereunder under the second example embodiment of the invention and with reference to Figure 1 hereof. In this method a payment request is generated by a merchant using an electronic reading device (1 ) when - lo an account holder enters into a transaction with the merchant. Typically, such transactions would relate to the purchase of goods and/or services and the electronic reading device would be a typical card-reading POS device that reads debit and/or credit cards. It is envisaged that the POS device will be a POS card reading device that is also capable of reading loyalty cards (such as ebucks cards), fleet cards, autobank cards and petrocards.

The first embodiment of the invention also relates to payment requests generated by the account holder. The account holder can generate payment requests via electronic internet based-banking or via cellular banking, which requests can include once-off payments, scheduled payments or debit orders. Such transactions can also be scrutinised for compliance with informal criteria as detailed further hereunder. The payment request is then sent to the server of the bank which is responsible for making the payment (2) to the merchant. The bank responsible for making payment to the merchant is typically the bank responsible for issuing the electronic reading device to the merchant and the bank that the merchant banks with.

The server of the bank responsible for making the payment (2) then transmits the payment request to an independent bank switch (3). From the independent bank switch the payment request is sent to an analytical block (5). The analytical block comprises a control block within an information database (6) and the analytical block (5) functions to comparatively assess, whether the payment request complies with predetermined informal criteria.

The informal criteria are predetermined and set by the account holder and subsequently stored within the control block. The analytical block (5) compares the parameters of the payment request with the predetermined informal criteria to assess whether there is concordance between the payment request and the informal criteria. In the event that the payment request is compliant and concordant with the informal criteria the payment request is authorised Where there is a lack of concordance between the payment request and the informal criteria meaning that the payment request is not in compliance with the informal criteria the payment request is denied and a notification of such denial is sent to the server of the bank responsible for making payment (2) to the merchant which notification is duly transmitted to the electronic reading device (1 ) and the account holder is accordingly informed of such denial. The setting of such informal criteria allows the account holder whose account is to be debited to exercise control over the preauthorisation of payment requests as such requests will only be authorised in the event that there is concordance between the payment request and the predetermined informal criteria. The informal criteria can be changed at any stage by the account holder and such changes are solely within the account holder's discretion.

When the payment request is denied due to non-compliance with the informal criteria the payment request is denied and the payment is terminated by the bank responsible for making the payment and no communication occurs between the independent bank switch (3) and the card-issuing bank (4; 4.1 ,, 4n) for the assessment of compliance with formal requirements as contemplated hereunder and the payment request is denied solely on the basis of non-compliance with the informal criteria and independent of the sufficiency of funds in the account to be debited. In the event that there is compliance with the informal criteria and the payment request is authorised the independent bank switch (3) sends the payment request to the card-issuing bank (4; 4.1 .; 4n), which card-issuing bank will scrutinise the payment request for compliance with formal requirements. In this respect the independent bank switch (3) interfaces with a multitude of card- issuing banks (4; 4.1 . 4n) thereby allowing for payment requests to be issued and paid for by one bank when the account holder banks with a different bank. In the event that the payment request meets the formal requirements the payment request will be authorised and in the event that the payment request does not meet the formal requirements the payment request will be denied, which authorisation or denial will be communicated to the account holder via the electronic reading device (1 ). The formal requirements which are scrutinised include but are not limited to sufficiency of funds in the drawn upon account.

A second example embodiment of the invention contemplates a method whereby a generated payment request is received by an analytical block. The analytical block functions to comparatively assess the payment request for compliance with, predetermined informal criteria. Where the informal criteria are met the payment request is authorised and where the informal criteria are no met the request is denied. It is envisaged that such a payment request can be generated by a point of sale (POS) device, an internet banking platform or a cellular telephone (cellular banking).

This embodiment of the invention focuses solely on the receipt of an assessment of the payment request with respect to compliance with the informal financial criteria. In this embodiment it is envisaged that the payment request may be sent directly to the card-issuing bank from there to the independent bank switch where the analysis within the analytical block is undertaken. Once compliance with the informal criteria has been established the payment request is then sent back to the card issuing bank to determine compliance with the formal criteria to enable the transaction to be finally authorised.

In an alternative embodiment the payment request can be sent directly to the bank switch from the POS (or alternate platform) and assessed for compliance with the informal criteria directly within the analytical block prior to the payment request being sent to the card issuing bank where it will be assessed for compliance with formal criteria. Once compliance with the formal criteria has been established a final authorisation or denial message will be communicated to a user via the relevant payment request platform.

In a further alternative embodiment the payment request can be sent directly to the bank switch from the POS (or alternate platform) and assessed for compiiance with the informal criteria directly within the analytical block. Compliance with such informal criteria is then communicated back to the payment request platform and no assessment of compliance with formal criteria takes place the transactions being wholly approved or denied on the basis of the informal criteria. It is envisaged that a system of this nature may also be employed.

A third example embodiment of the invention provides for a system for the analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments. The system consisting of an analytical block to comparatively assess a received payment request for compliance with predetermined informal criteria and a control block within an information database the control block retaining the predetermined informal criteria. A fourth example embodiment of the invention provides for a system for the analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments, an example of which system is illustrated in Figure 1 , The system comprises an electronic reading device (1 ) connected to the server of a bank responsible for making the payment (2) to a merchant who generated the payment request. The payment requested is generated by the merchant when the merchant utilises the electronic reading device to scan the account holder's card. It is envisaged that such electronic reading devices are capable of scanning credit cards, fleet cards, loyalty cards, autobank cards and debit cards and that intermediate control as envisaged by the invention can be implemented over the accounts connected to such cards. The server of the bank responsible for making the payment (2) being connected to a server of an independent bank switch (3). The server of the independent bank switch (3) is in turn connected to the servers of electronic card-issuing banks (4; 4.1. ; 4n) and to an analytical block (5). The analytical block (5) is connected to a control block with database (6) and, through an entr server (8) to monitoring platforms of supervising managers (7; 7.1 ., 7n). The monitoring platforms of the supervising managers function (7; 7.1.; 7n) to receive archived information relating to the denial of payment requests in terms of non-compliance and/or concordance with the informal criteria. The entry server (8) provides access to the monitoring platforms of the supervising managers (7; 7.1 .; 7n) and it is through such platforms (7.; 7.1 .; 7n) that the informal criteria can be set and modified by managers and upon the request of the account holder.

It is envisaged that real time intermediate control over the preauthorisation of transactions would find applicability in the commercial sector, for instance. For example, such intermediate control would be beneficial where transactions are entered into by company employees on behalf of their companies and at company expense, since intermediate control of this nature would allow the company (account holder) to customise which expenses are authorised and will be sanctioned and which expenses are denied. In the case that the informal criteria set by the account holder are not complied with the payment request will be denied prior to the request reaching the server of the card-issuing bank and this denial will be independent of and irrespective of whether there are sufficient funds available in the account of the account holder, since the availability of funds is assessed separately and only in the event that the informal criteria are complied with. Such control could be used with respect to regulating fleet card transactions with respect to the purchase of petrol, consumable, repairs and trip- based expenses in the transportation industry. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the methods as given in the first and second example embodiments are applied within the systems as given in the third and fourth example embodiments respectively. It is also envisaged that the method and system for intermediate analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as detailed in accordance with the invention may also be used in respect of any other transaction that the account holder would like to exercise control over, such as, but not limited to electronic internet-based banking transactions and cellular banking transactions.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the current description is by no means an exhaustive account of all embodiments falling within the spirit of the invention as described herein and that, as such, the invention should not be limited to the few examples contained in the description. In particular, the invention may be used equally well as described herein under a medical aid scheme where payments as against authorised treatment codes are made, or within the context of debit orders, where the revocation of informal financial criteria could be used by the client to stop previously authorized, now unauthorized debit orders to come off their account. It is submitted that the further examples mentioned immediately herein fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments, suitable for use in the banking sector, the method comprising the steps of: generating a payment request by an account holder at a payment platform and sending the payment request from the payment platform to a payment requesting bank; communicating the payment request via a communications network to a bank switch, and thereafter to a card-issuing bank for compliance with pre-determined formal financial criteria defined by the card- issuing bank, which formal financial criteria is bank-defined account holder information: authorising payment to be made against the payment request if compliance with the formal financial criteria is met, or declining the payment request if compliance is not met; the method characterised in that there is included an intermediate step whereby the payment request is immediately upon its generation, sent to an analytical block, pre-populated with pre-determined informal financial criteria, wherein the payment request is interrogated for compliance against the pre-determined informal financial criteria, held securely within the analytical block, and authorizing the payment request if compliance with the informal financial criteria is met and communicating the payment authorization to the card-issuing bank for processing, or denying the payment request if compliance is not met.

2. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 1 , including the further step of communicating the denied payment request to a control block located within the analytical block, and communicating the payment request denial to the account holder.

The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the pre-defined informal financial criteria is confidential account holder-defined information which the account holder may pre-define and communicate to the control block, either as a once-off communication, or as ad hoc instructions.

The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 3, wherein the informal financial criteria is any one or a combination of, but not limited to, a client transaction identification pre-approval, a transaction amount limitation, a time period access limitation, card presenter identification, password identification, and the like.

The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 4, wherein the account holder exercises total control and autonomy over the preauthorisation of electronic payments by predetermining and setting the parameters and content of the informal criteria, which can be changed or updated from time to time at the account holder's full discretion.

The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the payment platform is any suitable platform for generating/receiving and transmitting the payment request.

The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 6, wherein the payment platform is any one of, but not limited to, a point of sale (card reading machine), an internet banking software platform, an internet payment gateway, an automatic teller machine, cellula or telephonic banking, and the like.

8. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 6, wherein the payment platform is internal or inter-bank software for generating and/or requesting and communicating a payment request to the card-issuing bank, used in the generation, transmittal and effecting of debit order transactions.

9. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the communications network is a wired communications network, alternatively a wireless communications network.

10. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 9, wherein the wireless communications network is, a global system for mobile GSM communications and/or USSD (Uninstructed Supplementary Services Data) and/or a satellite communications module having a subscriber identification module (SIM) cardholder and card and/or a wireless 802. 1 -based W/LAN, each of which are secure and encrypted. 1 . The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the bank switch is either independent, or alternatively part of, either or both of the payment requesting bank or the card-issuing bank.

12. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 1 1 , wherein the bank switch belongs to the same affiliated group to which either payment requesting bank or the card- issuing bank belong.

13. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the analytical block is part of the bank switch, or alternatively is independent of the bank switch.

14. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 13, wherein the analytical block may include the control block. 15. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claims 13 or 14, wherein the analytical block and the control block is part of an information database.

16. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein communication of the payment request from the control block, once authorized for payment, to the card-issuing bank, is further interrogated by the card-issuing bank as against formal financial criteria. 17. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 15, wherein the communication from the control block to the card-issuing bank is via the bank switch.

18. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 15, wherein the communication from the control block to the card-issuing bank emanates from within the bank switch,

19. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 15, wherein the communication from the control block to the card-issuing bank is direct from the control block to the card-issuing bank.

20. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the formal financial criteria is confidential information stored securely by the card- issuing bank, such as account holder personal details, personal identification number (PIN), CVV number (where a credit or debit card is used), card expiry date, and the like.

21. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 20, wherein the formal financial criteria relates to client and /or account information and is controlled both in question and answer by bank pre-defined fields.

22. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, including a further step of communicating an authorization of payment to the account holder, after the payment request is authorized as against the formal financial criteria, and payment is effected through conventional banking means.

23. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, including the further step of communication a notification of denial of the payment request to the requesting bank for subsequent communication to the account holder or customer, if in the event there is non-compliance with the informal criteria.

24. A method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments, the method including the steps of receiving a generated payment request, utilizing an analytical block to comparatively assess the payment request for compliance with predetermined informal criteria which informal criteria represent client defined assessment conditions and parameters, which informal criteria are pre-communicated to and retained within a control block within an information database, the payment request being authorised in the event that there is compliance by the payment request as against the informal criteria or denied if in the event that there is non-compliance with the informal criteria as against the payment request, and communicating such preauthorisation or denial with respect to the payment request to a user or a merchant.

25. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 24, wherein the payment request is received from, and the authorisation or denial is communicated back to, a POS device, alternatively received from and communicated back to a banking platform that may be internet-based, or further alternatively received from and communicated back to a cellular telephone.

26. A system for the analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments, the system comprising an analytical block to comparatively assess a received payment request for compliance with predetermined informal criteria, and a control block within an information database the control block retaining the predetermined informal criteria.

27. A system for the analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments, the system comprising, an electronic reading device in communication with a bank responsible for making payment to a merchant- generated payment request, an independent bank switch connected to the server of the bank responsible for making payment, an analytical block connected to the independent bank switch and at least one server of a card- issuing bank also connected to the independent bank switch.

28. The system for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 27, wherein the analytical block is connected to a control block database and to monitoring platforms of supervising managers through an entry server and that the analytical block functions to comparatively assess, whether the payment request complies with predetermined informal criteria.

29. The system for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in any one of claims 27 or 28, wherein at least one server of the card-issuing bank functions to assess whether the payment request compiles with formal financial criteria after the assessment of the payment request with respect to informal criteria.

30. The system for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments as claimed in claim 27, wherein the payment request is generated upon the scanning of an account holders card by the electronic reading device.

31. The method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments, wherein the card is card is selected from the group comprising: credit cards, fleet cards, loyalty cards, autobank cards, debit cards or medical aid cards, or a combination thereof.

32. The system and method as described herein may further be used in any application involving the transacting of money, such as debit card, credit card or fleet card transactions, and may also extend to related applications, such as the payment of medical aid claims by a medical aid scheme on behalf of a medical aid scheme member.

33. A method for analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawing. A system for the analysis, control and preauthorisation of electronic payments substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawing.