Batch withdrawal function

Freemarket’s batch payments functionality allows businesses to upload a single file and make multiple payments across a range of currencies & payment types at no additional cost.

Freemarket’s clients need to be able to make multiple payments:

• Quickly; saving the time and cost of manually typing or pasting-in payments
• Efficiently; using a format configurable from their ERP or treasury platform
• Accurately; minimising the expensive mistakes associated with manual keying

Key things to know

• The service can be enabled or disabled based on client needs
• Any client requiring this functionality should request it through their RM
• Clients can send multiple currencies in the same batch
• The payments included in this file will be treated as individual payments and will be debited as such. For example, a file which has 15 USD and 12 CAD payments will see 15 debits on their USD account and 12 debits on their CAD account
• Clients submit a .CSV file containing the payments data into the Freemarket web portal
• Note that API channel cannot be used to submit files
• There is a format guide and example (template) import .csv file in the appendix to this guide. Freemarket will enable clients to undertake to test, as needed
• Files can be of mixed payment types e.g. SWIFT, SEPA, Faster Payments, etc.
• Each payment instruction will be subject to initial data input validation and checks
• Any payments which do not pass initial validation (checks on the file format, message content, account numbers, etc.) will be highlighted immediately the file is uploaded
• The faulty payments at this stage can be corrected or withdrawn from the file and escalated separately; the payments which have been checked and validated will continue through the process
• Files will be processed throughout the day – there are no specific batch processing times. However, there may be busy times just prior to the cut-offs in some currencies. Clients are encouraged to submit files in good time to achieve the targeted value date
• The file may include beneficiaries which have not been authorised for single payments in the Freemarket platform
• All files will therefore be subject to 2-factor authentication
• If the file includes new beneficiaries, they will be created in the system with unauthorised status. If a subsequent payment is made to those unauthorised beneficiaries in the future using the single (classic) withdrawal method, then the payment needs to be authorised
• Post batch import, payments in the file will be checked by Freemarket and its partner banks for sanctions, PEPs, Fraud, and in more detail for payment scheme rules and message content, reachability, etc. Payments which are stopped for investigation at those stages will be removed from the file and the remainder of the file will automatically continue for processing

End-to-end process

Steps to be followed are outlined below:

1. Log into FMFX portal with company (corporate) account:

2. Click on the batch tab to access the Batch Account Management screen:

3. Click on the Upload file button to upload the pre-formatted CSV file. Click Continue to proceed.

4. Several validations will take place to check the information is correct: account balance check per currency, beneficiary information check, ultimate originator check, maximum withdrawal amount check to process the file etc. In case of error, the system will display the reason so it can be rectified:

Please note: the limit for an individual transaction is 250k GBP or currency equivalent. Withdrawals over that limit won’t be supported as they require additional documentation.

At this point, customer can click Continue to proceed with the payments that have passed all validations excluding errored payments. The customer needs to click on the Confirm button to proceed.

Please note: In case there is not enough funding available in the account to cover all the payments included in the file, the file can still be processed with the payments covered by the available funding.

5. Once the batch file is uploaded and all validations successfully done, an OTP token will be sent to be keyed in on the portal via SMS/Email. The number of transactions of the batch and a unique batch number (identifier) will be displayed:

Strong Customer Authentication is required for this functionality. This means that the user will need to authorise the batch using the Authentication code provided and clicking on ‘Confirm’:

If new beneficiaries are included in the batch file, the system will create them with ‘unauthorised’ status. These ‘unauthorised’ beneficiaries will not become authorised beneficiaries for future payments so the payments will need an authorisation.

If the account is enabled for the approval workflow, then withdrawals will need to be approved by the other account user(s). An email will be sent automatically to request authorisation:

A new Transaction Type (Batch withdrawal) has been created to allow filtering:

When clicking on ‘View details’, all the payments will be displayed on the approval screen. The entire batch can then be approved or rejected; note that you approve the whole batch together – there is no option to approve the individual withdrawals in the file.

6. Once the Batch is approved, batch withdrawal status will be ‘Pending’ until all the withdrawals are processed by the system:

Withdrawals in Enabled status are ready to be processed by the system;

7. Once all the payments are processed, the Batch status will be updated to ‘Completed’:

8. The whole batch will then become available in Completed Transactions

9. An email will be sent to confirm the Batch has been processed:

Appendix

1.0 Format Guide