Method and system for providing seller bank receivable discounting aggregation services

• US 8,571,977 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2005
• Issued: 10/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reid, William, Swackhammer, Craig, Lynch, Kerry, Lau, Johnson
• Primary Examiner(s): AMELUNXEN, BARBARA J
• Application Number:
  US11/131,605
• Publication Number:
  US 20050283431A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,087 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/35, 705/37, 705/39, 705/40, 705/42, 705/44, 235/379
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

A system for conducting commercial transactions between buyers and sellers is disclosed. The system includes a transaction processing system for facilitating payment for transactions between buyers and the sellers. In addition to the buyer and the seller, the transaction processing system also interacts with issuers and acquirers. The transaction processing system monitors and manages payment information relating to transactions conducted between buyers and sellers. Using such information, the transaction processing system further offers a number of additional financing services including, for example, buyer payment assurance, buyer bank payment assurance, buyer bank payable discounting, buyer bank payable discount aggregation, seller/receivable financing and seller bank receivable discount aggregation.

Claims

1. A system comprising a server comprising a computer readable medium, wherein the server executes:

control logic on the computer readable medium that monitors a plurality of transactions between a buyer and a seller, wherein for each transaction, a payment is owed by the buyer to the seller; and

control logic on the computer readable medium that allows a seller bank to offer seller bank receivable discounting aggregation (SBRDA) to the seller using information collected from monitoring the plurality of transactions;

wherein the seller bank handles processing of receivables for the plurality of transactions on behalf of the seller,

wherein the control logic on the computer readable medium that allows the seller bank to offer the seller bank receivable discounting aggregation (SBRDA) to the seller further comprises

control logic that builds a tranche based on a set of criteria specified by the seller bank, wherein the tranche is associated with an aggregation of receivables, the receivables comprising secured and unsecured receivables, wherein the secured receivables are guaranteed by one or more buyer banks;

control logic that presents the tranche as a line of credit to the seller;

control logic on the computer readable medium that monitors activities incurred with respect to the tranche; and

control logic on the computer readable medium that modifies the tranche in response to the monitored activities.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

control logic on the computer readable medium that maintains terms and conditions relating to the line of credit, wherein the terms and conditions relating to the line of credit are provided by the seller bank; and

control logic on the computer readable medium that presents the terms and conditions relating to the line of credit to the seller.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the terms and conditions relating to the line of credit are modifiable by the seller bank.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

control logic on the computer readable medium that allows the seller to issue a SBRDA request; and

control logic on the computer readable medium that forwards the SBRDA request to the seller bank;

wherein the set of criteria specified by the seller bank is based on the SBRDA request.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

control logic on the computer readable medium that monitors one or more receivables associated with the tranche to ensure that the set of criteria is satisfied.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the control logic on the computer readable medium for allowing the seller bank to specify the set of criteria includes a graphical user interface.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

control logic on the computer readable medium that informs the seller bank once the tranche has been built according to the set of criteria.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising:

control logic on the computer readable medium that allows the seller bank to offer the tranche as the line of credit to the seller.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the set of criteria includes a specification of specific percentages of the secured and unsecured receivables.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 1 further comprising control logic on the computer readable medium that locks down one or more transactions and a payment instruction if the buyer requests buyer assurance from a buyer bank for the one or more transactions in the plurality of transactions, wherein locking down protects the one or more transactions and the payment instruction from any subsequent modifications.

11. A system configured for use by a plurality of buyers, a plurality of sellers, a plurality of buyer banks handling payable processing for the plurality of buyers, and a plurality of seller banks handling receivable processing for the plurality of sellers, the system comprising:

means that monitor a plurality of transactions conducted between the plurality of buyers and the plurality of sellers,

means that allow one or more seller banks to offer seller bank receivable discounting aggregation (SBRDA) to one or more of the plurality of sellers respectively using information collected from monitoring the plurality of transactions,

means that build one or more tranches based respectively on sets of criteria specified by the one or more seller banks, wherein each tranche is associated with a seller bank and includes aggregated receivables corresponding to one or more of the plurality of transactions, the aggregated receivables being handled by the associated seller bank, wherein the aggregated receivables comprise secured and unsecured receivables, wherein the secured receivables are guaranteed by one or more buyer banks,

means that present the one or more tranches respectively to the one or more of the plurality of sellers as lines of credit;

means that monitor activities incurred with respect to the one or more tranches; and

means that modify the one or more tranches in response to the monitored activities.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the system further comprises:

means that maintain terms and conditions relating to the lines of credit, wherein the terms and conditions relating to the lines of credit are provided respectively by the one or more seller banks; and

means that present the terms and conditions relating to the lines of credit respectively to the one or more of the plurality of sellers.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the terms and conditions relating to the lines of credit are modifiable by the one or more seller banks.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the system further comprises:

means that allow the one or more of the plurality of sellers to issue SBRDA requests; and

means that forward the SBRDA requests respectively to one or more seller banks;

wherein the sets of criteria specified by the one or more seller banks are based respectively on the SBRDA requests.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the system further comprises:

means that identify the one or more buyer banks to which the SBRDA requests are to be forwarded.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the system further comprises:

means that monitor one or more receivables in a tranche to ensure that the set of criteria associated with that tranche is satisfied.

17. The system of claim 11 further comprising:

an invoice pre-processor configured to receive a plurality of invoices in an electronic format and generate standard invoice files for the plurality of invoices;

a payment manager coupled to the invoice pre-processor and configured to receive the standard invoices files, wherein the payment manager is further configured to generate payment instructions for the standard invoice files;

a pricing engine coupled to the payment manager, wherein the pricing engine is configured to receive the payment instructions and determine transaction fees associated with the payment instructions, wherein the transaction fees are based on terms and conditions stored in a database coupled to the pricing engine; and

an authorization and settlement interface coupled to the pricing engine and configured to communicate with a data transport and processing network.

18. The system of claim 11 further comprising means for locking down one or more transactions and a payment instruction if the plurality of buyers request buyer assurance from a buyer bank for the one or more transactions in the plurality of transactions, wherein locking down protects the one or more transactions and the payment instruction from any subsequent modifications.

19. A transaction processing system comprising a server comprising a computer readable medium, wherein the server executes:

control logic on the computer readable medium that collects receivable information relating to a plurality of transactions between a plurality of buyers and a plurality of sellers, wherein the receivable information includes information relating to receivables due to be received by a plurality of seller banks from the plurality of buyers on behalf of the plurality of sellers;

control logic on the computer readable medium that allows the plurality of seller banks to utilize the collected receivable information to offer seller bank receivable discounting aggregation (SBRDA) to the plurality of sellers respectively;

control logic on the computer readable medium that allows a seller to issue a SBRDA request;

control logic on the computer readable medium that identifies one or more seller banks that can potentially fulfill the SBRDA request;

control logic on the computer readable medium that allows the one or more seller banks to specify respective sets of criteria to build one or more tranches in response to the SBRDA request;

control logic on the computer readable medium that builds the one or more tranches using the collected receivable information, the collected receivable information comprising an aggregation of receivables, the receivables in the aggregation of receivables comprising secured and unsecured receivables, wherein the secured receivables are guaranteed by buyer banks;

control logic on the computer readable medium that allows the one or more seller banks to respectively present the one or more tranches to the seller as lines of credit; and

control logic on the computer readable medium that modifies a tranche to ensure that the set of criteria associated with that tranche is satisfied.

20. The transaction processing system of claim 19 further comprising:

control logic on the computer readable medium that allows the one or more seller banks to respectively specify terms and conditions associated with the one or more tranches.

21. The transaction processing system of claim 20 further comprising:

control logic on the computer readable medium that allows the seller to select one of the one or more tranches for use as a line of credit; and

control logic on the computer readable medium that displays the terms and conditions associated with the tranche selected by the seller.

22. The transaction processing system of claim 19 further comprising:

control logic on the computer readable medium that informs the seller of one or more seller bank SBRDA offers made respectively by the one or more seller banks, wherein each seller bank SBRDA offer includes offering a tranche associated with a corresponding seller bank as a line of credit; and

control logic on the computer readable medium that allows the seller to accept or reject the one or more seller bank SBRDA offers.

23. The transaction processing system of claim 19 further comprising:

control logic on the computer readable medium that monitors activities with respect to a tranche to ensure that the set of criteria associated with that tranche is satisfied.

24. The transaction processing system of claim 19 further comprising control logic for locking down one or more transactions and a payment instruction if the plurality of buyers request buyer assurance from a buyer bank for the one or more transactions in the plurality of transactions, wherein locking down protects the one or more transactions and the payment instruction from any subsequent modifications.

25. A system comprising a server, wherein the server executes:

control logic stored on the server causing the server to monitor a plurality of transactions between a buyer and a seller, wherein for each transaction, a payment is owed by the buyer to the seller; and

control logic stored on the server causing the server to allow a seller bank to offer seller bank receivable discounting aggregation (SBRDA) to the seller using information collected from monitoring the plurality of transactions;

wherein the seller bank handles processing of receivables for the plurality of transactions on behalf of the seller,

wherein the control logic causes the server to allow the seller bank to offer the seller bank receivable discounting aggregation (SBRDA) to the seller further comprises

control logic stored on the server causing the server to build a tranche based on a set of criteria specified by the seller bank, wherein the tranche is associated with an aggregation of receivables, the receivables comprising secured and unsecured receivables, wherein the secured receivables are guaranteed by one or more buyer banks;

control logic stored on the server causing the server to present the tranche as a line of credit to the seller;

control logic stored on the server causing the server to monitor activities incurred with respect to the tranche; and

control logic stored on the server causing the server to modify the tranche in response to the monitored activities.

26. The system of claim 25 further comprising:

control logic stored on the server causing the server to maintain terms and conditions relating to the line of credit, wherein the terms and conditions relating to the line of credit are provided by the seller bank; and

control logic stored on the server causing the server to present the terms and conditions relating to the line of credit to the seller.

27. The system of claim 25 further comprising:

control logic stored on the server causing the server to monitor one or more receivables associated with the tranche to ensure that the set of criteria is satisfied.