3 Terminology

Terminology used within this specification.

Several elements of the glossary are based on the terminology defined by the level one project and ITU DFS Glossary

Term	Description
Authentication	The validation of user credentials for the purpose of system login and basic access.
Aggregators	Act as payment facilitators for billers by onboarding multiple billers on their platform and are responsible for, connecting with PSPs and FSPs on behalf of Billers, often, also communicating specific Bill IDs to the consumers to collect amount through their respective platforms and settling the collected amount with the billers.
Authorization	The permission given by the Payer or entity to make a Payment.
Beneficiary	Non referring to a payee of a program.
Billers	Entity responsible for: Generating Bills with Bill ID’s in PSP’s identifiable format, distributing Bills to the customer (either directly or via another service / channel), marking bill as paid upon confirmation from Payment service provider.
Bulk Payments	A Payment from a single Payer to multiple Payees, for example, cash transfer programs from a government or non-governmental organization to a set of beneficiaries.
End User	The customer of a digital financial services provider. The customer may be a consumer, a merchant, a government, or another form of enterprise.
Financial Management Information System	The budget management system of the government treasury which ensures that government (Ministries, Departments, Agencies) payments are processed within the approved budget and releases.
Financial Services Providers (FSPs)	A financial services provider refers to one that is licensed by a regulatory authority to provide transaction accounts that hold customer funds and are used to make and receive payments. Digital Financial Services Providers (DFSPs) have relationships with consumers, merchants, and other enterprises, and provide digital financial services to End Users.
Interoperability	The ability of DFSPs participating in a payment Scheme to exchange Transactions with each other. The term may also be used when two systems interconnect.
Account Mapper or Account Lookup Directory Service	A dynamic directory matching beneficiaries’ unique identifier and their account numbers enable multiple programs to direct payments to the same account and beneficiaries to switch payment service providers. The identifier can be a national ID, phone number, or other number or alias that can uniquely identify individuals across social protection and financial sector databases.
Mobile Money (MoMo)	A mobile money service includes transferring money and making and receiving payments using a mobile phone. The service must be available to the unbanked, e.g. people who do not have access to a formal account at a financial institution. The service must offer a network of physical transactional points which can include agents, outside of bank branches and ATMs, that make the service widely accessible. Mobile banking or payment services (such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet) that offer the mobile phone as just another channel to access a traditional banking product are not included.
Mobile Money Services Provider	A category of DFSPs that use mobile phones as the access method to provide transaction Accounts to End Users.
Payee	The recipient of funds in a payment transaction.
Payer	The person/organization whose account is debited in a payment transaction.
Payment	Exchange of funds, credentials, and other necessary information to complete an obligation between End Users. A transfer is an example of a payment.
Payment Alias/Payment address	An alias may include phone numbers, email addresses, or other handles. They may include globally unique URIs and may be chosen by the user. These are increasingly seen in new payment systems. Within systems, the payment alias points to an underlying payment account address, specifically and uniquely located within a payment scheme. A payment address may be different from the underlying account address, depending on the payment scheme rules but is often the same thing.
Quick-Response (QR) Code	A method of encoding and visualization of data, which are machine-readable. There are multiple QR models.
Routing	The process by which a route to a payment address is determined. The mechanism of sending payment information across different systems. This is sometimes used interchangeably with addressing.
Switch	A processing entity in a payments system that routes a Transaction from one DFSP to another DFSP. A system may operate its own Switch, or this function may be done by one or more third parties (https://www.leveloneproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/L1P_Guide_2019_Final.pdf). An entity which receives transactions from one provider and routes those transactions on to another provider. A switch may be owned or hired by a scheme or be hired by individual providers. A switch will connect to a settlement system for inter-participant settlement. (https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/tut/T-TUT-ECOPO-2018-PDF-E.pdf)
Transaction	A reference to the entirety of the exchange, including a Payment but may also include information between the Payer’s DFSP and the Payee’s DFSP.
Treasury Single Account	A Treasury Single Account (TSA) is a unified structure of government bank accounts that gives a consolidated view of government cash resources. Based on the principle of unity of cash and the unity of treasury, a TSA is a bank account or a set of linked accounts through which the government transacts all its receipts and payments. The principle of unity follows from the fungibility of all cash irrespective of its end use. While it is necessary to distinguish individual cash transactions for control and reporting purposes, this purpose is achieved through the accounting system and not by holding/depositing cash in transaction-specific bank accounts. This enables the treasury to delink management of cash from control at a transaction level.
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)	A unique sequence of characters that identifies a logical or physical resource used by web technologies.
Voucher	A token that entitles the holder to a discount or that may be exchanged for goods or services.
Voucher Group	A voucher group is a characteristic of a voucher that restricts the function or use case that a voucher can be used for. It can also be used as a dimension for reporting on.

Term

Description

Authentication

The validation of user credentials for the purpose of system login and basic access.

Aggregators

Act as payment facilitators for billers by onboarding multiple billers on their platform and are responsible for, connecting with PSPs and FSPs on behalf of Billers, often, also communicating specific Bill IDs to the consumers to collect amount through their respective platforms and settling the collected amount with the billers.

Authorization

The permission given by the Payer or entity to make a Payment.

Beneficiary

Non referring to a payee of a program.

Billers

Entity responsible for: Generating Bills with Bill ID’s in PSP’s identifiable format, distributing Bills to the customer (either directly or via another service / channel), marking bill as paid upon confirmation from Payment service provider.

Bulk Payments

A Payment from a single Payer to multiple Payees, for example, cash transfer programs from a government or non-governmental organization to a set of beneficiaries.

End User

The customer of a digital financial services provider. The customer may be a consumer, a merchant, a government, or another form of enterprise.

Financial Management Information System

The budget management system of the government treasury which ensures that government (Ministries, Departments, Agencies) payments are processed within the approved budget and releases.

Financial Services Providers (FSPs)

A financial services provider refers to one that is licensed by a regulatory authority to provide transaction accounts that hold customer funds and are used to make and receive payments. Digital Financial Services Providers (DFSPs) have relationships with consumers, merchants, and other enterprises, and provide digital financial services to End Users.

Interoperability

The ability of DFSPs participating in a payment Scheme to exchange Transactions with each other. The term may also be used when two systems interconnect.

Account Mapper or Account Lookup Directory Service

A dynamic directory matching beneficiaries’ unique identifier and their account numbers enable multiple programs to direct payments to the same account and beneficiaries to switch payment service providers. The identifier can be a national ID, phone number, or other number or alias that can uniquely identify individuals across social protection and financial sector databases.

Mobile Money (MoMo)

A mobile money service includes transferring money and making and receiving payments using a mobile phone. The service must be available to the unbanked, e.g. people who do not have access to a formal account at a financial institution. The service must offer a network of physical transactional points which can include agents, outside of bank branches and ATMs, that make the service widely accessible. Mobile banking or payment services (such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet) that offer the mobile phone as just another channel to access a traditional banking product are not included.

Mobile Money Services Provider

A category of DFSPs that use mobile phones as the access method to provide transaction Accounts to End Users.

Payee

The recipient of funds in a payment transaction.

Payer

The person/organization whose account is debited in a payment transaction.

Payment

Exchange of funds, credentials, and other necessary information to complete an obligation between End Users. A transfer is an example of a payment.

Payment Alias/Payment address

An alias may include phone numbers, email addresses, or other handles. They may include globally unique URIs and may be chosen by the user. These are increasingly seen in new payment systems. Within systems, the payment alias points to an underlying payment account address, specifically and uniquely located within a payment scheme. A payment address may be different from the underlying account address, depending on the payment scheme rules but is often the same thing.

Quick-Response (QR) Code

A method of encoding and visualization of data, which are machine-readable. There are multiple QR models.

Routing

The process by which a route to a payment address is determined. The mechanism of sending payment information across different systems. This is sometimes used interchangeably with addressing.

Switch

A processing entity in a payments system that routes a Transaction from one DFSP to another DFSP. A system may operate its own Switch, or this function may be done by one or more third parties (https://www.leveloneproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/L1P_Guide_2019_Final.pdf).

An entity which receives transactions from one provider and routes those transactions on to another provider. A switch may be owned or hired by a scheme or be hired by individual providers. A switch will connect to a settlement system for inter-participant settlement. (https://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/tut/T-TUT-ECOPO-2018-PDF-E.pdf)

Transaction

A reference to the entirety of the exchange, including a Payment but may also include information between the Payer’s DFSP and the Payee’s DFSP.

Treasury Single Account

A Treasury Single Account (TSA) is a unified structure of government bank accounts that gives a consolidated view of government cash resources. Based on the principle of unity of cash and the unity of treasury, a TSA is a bank account or a set of linked accounts through which the government transacts all its receipts and payments. The principle of unity follows from the fungibility of all cash irrespective of its end use. While it is necessary to distinguish individual cash transactions for control and reporting purposes, this purpose is achieved through the accounting system and not by holding/depositing cash in transaction-specific bank accounts. This enables the treasury to delink management of cash from control at a transaction level.

Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)

A unique sequence of characters that identifies a logical or physical resource used by web technologies.

Voucher

A token that entitles the holder to a discount or that may be exchanged for goods or services.

Voucher Group

A voucher group is a characteristic of a voucher that restricts the function or use case that a voucher can be used for. It can also be used as a dimension for reporting on.

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