Banking Communication Standard
The Banking Communication Standard ( BCS ) is a standard procedure for remote data transmission between customers and banks .
The basis of the Banking Communication Standard is the so-called DFÜ Agreement of the German Credit Industry (DK) . In Germany, BCS and Btx home banking formed the first forms of electronic banking , especially for payment transactions . On December 31, 2010, the banks' obligation to continue supporting BCS-FTAM ended and will be replaced by EBICS .
Functions
One of the most important functions is the
- Domestic payment transactions ( DTAUS : order types IZV, IZG, IZL),
- Foreign payment transactions (DTAZV: order types AZV, ESU),
- the SWIFT daily statements MT940 (STA), (SWIFT: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication),
- Short-term reservation items in SWIFT MT942 (VMK) format,
- Domestic urgent payments (DTE),
- Europ. Express payment (EUE) as well as
- Delivery files (DTI = data carrier exchange information or BDT = DTA from delivery by Postbank) in DTA format
Permissions
It is also possible to define very fine access control. Afterwards, the customer can have different persons set up with different authorizations at the partners (e.g. banks). The rights for the electronic signature (EU) are usually assigned in the same way as the representation authorization:
- E = individual power of attorney
- A = 1/2 power of attorney, first signature
- B = 1/2 power of attorney, second signature
- N = no signature authorization (approval of payment via accompanying note to the bank)
A restriction of the EU with regard to the authorization to represent is possible, an extension to the authorization to represent is only possible with a separate power of attorney with a legitimation check, since otherwise the bank violates the principle of the truthful accounts according to § 154 Fiscal Code.
Data transfer
The files can be transferred using various data transmission methods: For FTAM , in most cases (depending on the bank) a full ISDN connection (local or via (remote) CAPI) is required. Some banks offer an alternative FTP access. In the healthcare sector, scalable TCP / IP access is an alternative - at least partially - possible. The best-known programs for FTAM use are S-Firm32, MultiCash or ProfiCash (banking) or Multicom (healthcare). Banks usually charge a fee for using the FTAM service. The fee rates are i. d. Usually between 2 and 25 euros / month and account. In the health sector, the transfer is free of charge via free local numbers and not via special numbers.
The main advantage of account statements via FTAM lies in the fact that the data can be processed directly in downstream financial accounting systems. ( DATEV , SAP etc.)
safety
In online banking via HBCI and FinTS , as in FTAM, various types of power of attorney as well as domestic and international payments are possible. About FTAM there is no bank statements, but account transactions (the difference is the legal obligation). You get this in all online banking procedures. An export for further processing (MT940 or other) does not depend on the online banking procedure, but on the software used.
The data can be encrypted using the FTAM method. Bank and customer use an asymmetrical procedure using private-key and public-key ( PKI ). The customer puts the encryption into operation by collecting the bank's public key, generating his own pair of keys and then transmitting his public key to the bank. The activation takes place via an initialization protocol that is sent to the bank.