On a deposit account - interest which has been earned on the account, but has not yet been added to the balance.

On a loan/mortgage - interest which has accumulated on the account but has not yet been added to the balance.

A term used by banks to describe the amount of a loan.

If your bank cannot provide a service which you require, then it may ask another bank to act as its agent to provide the service. Charges may arise for such agency arrangements. For example, if a nationwide organisation has a branch in a town in which it's bank has no branch, it may arrange to make lodgements through the branch of another bank.

The AIM (Alternative Investment Market) is a London-based element of the Stock exchange in which the shares of small and growing companies are traded. Criteria for access to the AIM are a reduced version of the criteria for a company wishing to have its shares traded on the main stock exchange.

If new shares are offered to the market and orders for the shares exceed the number of shares available then the orders are scaled down. The scaling may be such as to favour smaller shareholders. This scaled down allocation of shares is called an allotment

An annual report is a record published every year by a publicly-listed company. It is distributed to all shareholders. The report contains a description of the company's operations, its balance sheet and profit and loss account, along with other relevant financial information.

An annuity is a financial calculation in which a sum of money is equated to a series of annual payments payable in the future. For example, an investor may invest a sum of money and receive an income each year for a specified number of years. The income is normally payable in equal amounts, inclusive of interest. An instalment loan or mortgage may be referred to as an annuity.

Annual Percentage Rate of Charge - a measure of the true cost of credit and is typically used to compare loans or mortgages offered by various lenders. In Ireland , the method of calculation of APR is defined in the 4 th schedule, Consumer Credit Act 1995.

Methods used to verify the origin of a message or to verify the identity of a participant connected to a system and to confirm that a message has not been modified or replaced in transit.

A computer-based clearing and settlement facility established to process the exchange of electronic transactions between participating banks. The electronic clearing and settlement facility in Ireland is realised through bilateral links between banks and is managed by the Irish Retail Electronic Clearing Company Ltd., one of the companies operating under the IPSO umbrella (see IPSO and IRECC).

Automated Teller Machine - a device by which a bank customer, using a plastic card, can make withdrawals from a bank account. ATMs are normally networked so that customers of one bank can use the ATM facility provided by another bank. ATMs are more commonly known as Pass machines, Banklink machines, cashpoints, or ¡°Hole in the wall machines¡±, etc.

On your current account this is the credit balance (if any) plus any unused overdraft, less any holds on the account. In other words, it is the maximum amount you can withdraw immediately.

Business-to-business or "B2B" is a term commonly used to describe electronic commerce transactions between businesses, as opposed to those between businesses and other groups, such as business and individual consumers (B2C) or business and government (B2G).

It is a term that originated and is almost exclusively used in electronic commerce and usually takes the form of automated processes between trading partners.

The part of a firm that is responsible for the support functions of banking operations. Depending upon the organisational structure of the firm, the back office can be a single department or multiple units (such as clearing, documentation, risk management, accounting or settlements).

This can mean:

•  The statement balance, i.e. the amount showing on your statement under yesterdays date. This includes all items which have been posted to your account up to the close of business yesterday.

•  The online balance, i.e. the amount shown as the balance when you access your account online. In some banks, this amount is a ¡°shadow posting¡±, which means that today's items may have been ¡°trial posted¡± to your account, but may in certain circumstances be withdrawn from the account.

•  The cleared balance, i.e. the current balance less any cheques which are currently wending their way through the clearing system and have not yet been cleared. Some banks may restrict withdrawal of uncleared balances

A form of cheque drawn by a bank on its own account, purchased by the payer, and sent to the payee who presents it to his bank for payment. Bank drafts are quickly being replaced by credit transfers and delays in clearing of drafts in Europe are commonplace.

One of the SHA/BEN/OUR options available for foreign currency transactions. When ordering a foreign currency credit transfer, if you select

•  The BEN option - all charges are charged to the beneficiary.

•  The SHA option - then charges will be shared (charges by the originating bank will be paid by the originator and charges by the beneficiary bank will be paid by the beneficiary)

•  The OUR option - all charges are charged to you as the originator.

Note that the SHA option is the only option available for transfers in euro between countries in Europe .

Bank Identifier Code (see Swiftcode).

The Bank for International Settlements was established in 1930 to coordinate the payment of war reparations. It's Glossary of Terms used in Payments and Settlement Systems is the industry standard and will likely be referred to in court if the definition of a term is disputed. Find it here

A written order from one party (the drawer) to another (the drawee) to pay a specified sum on demand or on a specified date to the drawer or to a third party specified by the drawer. Widely used to finance trade and when discounted with a financial institution to obtain credit.

Refers to a method of identifying the holder of a device by measuring a unique physical characteristic of the holder, e.g. fingerprint matching, voice recognition, or retinal scan. Likely to become increasingly important in the future in authentication (see authentication).

A financial institution which issues credit cards or debit cards to its customers.

A financial services company to which retailer card terminals are linked and which provides services supporting transaction authorisation, as well as payment clearing on behalf of the retailer.

One of the components of the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (CBFSAI). The Central Bank has responsibility for monetary policy functions, financial stability, economic analysis, currency and payment systems, investment of foreign and domestic assets, and the provision of central services (see also Financial Regulator).

An entity entrusted with creating and assigning public key certificates. Such certificates are used in authentication of banking transactions. Identrus is the dominant standard for B2B transactions.

A contract for difference (or CFD) is a contract between two parties (buyer and seller) stipulating that the seller will pay to the buyer the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at contract time (if the difference is negative then the buyer pays to the seller. For example, when applied to equities, such a contract is an equity derivative that allows investors to speculate on share price movements without the need for ownership of the underlying shares.

Contracts for differences allow investors to take long or short positions and unlike futures contracts have no fixed expiry date or contract size. Trades are conducted on a leveraged basis with margins typically ranging from 1% to 30% of the notional value for CFDs on leading equities.

A card which enables the holder to make purchases but does not offer extended credit, i.e. the full amount of the debt incurred having to be settled at the end of a specified period. The holder is usually charged an annual fee. American Express and Diners Club are examples of charge cards.

A written order from one party (the drawer) to another (the drawee, normally a bank) requiring the drawee to pay a specified sum on demand to the drawer or to a third party specified by the drawer. Cheques may be used for settling debts and withdrawing money from banks (BIS definition). Note: the internationally accepted definition of a cheque is contained in a Geneva Convention of the 1930s. Ireland was not a signatory at this convention.

A card issued as part of a cheque guarantee system. This function may be combined with other functions in the same card, e.g. those of a cash card or debit card. The cheque guarantee scheme is virtually obsolete in Ireland , as the usage of cheques for retail purchases has declined.

A scheme in which plastic card transactions are authenticated without the use of a signature. A card containing a computer chip for identification, data storage or special purpose processing, is used to validate personal identification numbers (PINs), authorise purchases, and authorise ATM withdrawals.

The process of transmitting, reconciling, and in some cases, confirming payment orders (cheques, credit transfers, electronic payments) prior to settlement, possibly including the netting of instructions and the establishment of final positions for settlement. Sometimes the term is used (imprecisely) to include settlement.

A central location or central processing mechanism through which financial institutions agree to exchange payment instructions or other financial obligations (e.g. securities). The institutions settle for items exchanged at a designated time based on the rules and procedures of the clearing house. In some cases the clearing house may assume significant counterparty, financial, or risk management responsibilities for the clearing system.

Ireland is one of the very few developed countries which do not have a clearing house, relying instead on bilateral links between banks

A member of a clearing system. All trades must be settled through a clearing member. A general clearing member is able to settle their own obligations as well as those of clients. There are 7 general clearing members of the Irish clearing system.

A set of procedures whereby financial institutions present and exchange payment orders. The procedures also include a mechanism for the calculation of participants' bilateral and/or multilateral net positions with a view to facilitating the settlement of their obligations on a net or net net basis.

The Irish cheque clearing system is operated by the Irish Paper Clearing Company Ltd (IPCC). The Irish electronic payment clearing system is operated by the Irish Retail Electronic Payment Clearing Company Ltd (IRECC). Both of these companies operate under the umbrella of the Irish Payment Services Organisation Ltd (IPSO).

An asset or third-party commitment that is accepted by the collateral taker to secure an obligation of the collateral provider vis-¨¤-vis the collateral taker.

A card that does not require physical contact between the card and the card reader or terminal. Mainly used at the moment to operate electronic locks but may be more widely used in the future.

An arrangement under which one bank (correspondent) holds deposits owned by other banks (respondents) and provides payment and other services to those respondent banks. In international banking balances held for a foreign respondent bank may be used to settle foreign exchange transactions. Reciprocal correspondent banking relationships may involve the use of so-called nostro and vostro accounts to settle foreign exchange transactions.

Within Europe Correspondent Banking arrangements are gradually being replaced by Pan-European Clearing (see PEACH).

A card indicating that the holder has been granted a line of credit. It enables the holder to make purchases and/or withdraw cash up to a prearranged ceiling; the credit granted can be settled in full by the end of a specified period or can be settled in part, with the balance taken as extended credit. Interest is charged on the amount of any extended credit and the holder is sometimes charged an annual fee.

The definition given to a ¡°bank¡± in the European Union. The First EC Banking Directive defines it as an undertaking whose business is to receive deposits or other repayable funds from the public and to grant credits for its own account.

A credit limit is the maximum amount of credit that a financial institution or other lender will extend to a debtor for a particular line of credit (sometimes called a tradeline). For example, the maximum that a credit card company will allow a card holder to borrow at any given point on a specific card.

A payment order or possibly a sequence of payment orders made for the purpose of placing funds at the disposal of the beneficiary. Both the payment instructions and the funds described therein move from the bank of the payer/originator to the bank of the beneficiary, possibly via several other banks as intermediaries and/or more than one credit transfer system. The most common form of Credit Transfer is the Bank Giro.

A credit union is a not-for-profit cooperative financial institution that is owned and controlled by its members.

In Ireland credit unions are regulated by the Financial Regulator.

An arrangement to net positions or obligations between or among parties in more than one country or jurisdiction.

A symmetric cryptographic algorithm (ANSI standard) that is widely used, in particular in the financial industry. Triple DES consists of operating three times on a set of data (encrypting-decrypting-encrypting) using a double-length DES key.

A card enabling the holder to have his purchases directly charged to funds on his current account. Laser is the brand name used for most Irish debit cards.

The elimination of physical certificates or documents of title which represent ownership of securities so that securities exist only as accounting records. In the future SEPA direct debits are likely to be dematerialised for processing.

A financial contract the value of which depends on the value of one or more underlying reference assets, rates, or indices. For analytical purposes all derivatives contracts can be divided into basic building blocks of forward contracts, options, or combinations thereof.

See Data Encryption Standard.

A scheme in which payees are permitted to submit, through a sponsoring bank, a series of debit transactions to the accounts of payers who have pre-authorised the acceptance of such debits.

Deposit Interest Retention Tax (see withholding tax).

The European Central Bank is a major central bank and is responsible for the monetary policy of the Eurozone nations.

More properly called the ¡°ECB main refinancing operations minimum bid rate¡±, this rate is often used as the reference rate for bank loans and mortgages, e.g. ECB plus X.Y%.

See Point of Sale.

The Euro Interbank Offered Rate (or EURIBOR) is a daily reference rate based on the averaged interest rates at which banks offer to lend unsecured funds to other banks in the euro wholesale money market (or interbank market). This rate is often used as the reference rate for bank loans and mortgages, e.g. EURIBOR plus X.Y%.

Note that EURIBOR rates are normally calculated on the basis of a 360-day year. Many banks use EURIBOR as a reference rate to set their prime rates.

Value stored electronically in a device such as a chip card or a hard drive in a personal computer (see also electronic purse).

A reloadable multipurpose prepaid card which may be used for small retail or other payments instead of coins (see also multipurpose prepaid card). Within Ireland there are some electronic purse implementations in confined locations e.g. universities, canteens, etc.

A banking industry council established in 2002 to manage the SEPA project across Europe .

One of the components of the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland (CBFSAI). The Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority (Financial Regulator) is an autonomous entity within the CBFSAI and has responsibility for financial sector regulation and consumer protection (see also Central Bank).

A contract that obligates one party to buy and the other to sell an underlying asset at a specific price and date in the future.

The term is usually used to describe a domestic credit transfer.

A transfer system in which the settlement of funds or securities transfer instructions occurs individually on an instruction by instruction basis (see also RTGS).

An investment that is taken out specifically to reduce or cancel out the risk in another investment. Hedging is a strategy designed to minimise exposure to an unwanted business risk, while still allowing the business to profit from an investment activity. A typical example of hedging is an arrangement with a bank to minimize the risk of an adverse movement in foreign exchange.

A private investment fund often leveraged and often engaging in active trading strategies (including arbitrage). Hedge funds are typically subject to limited regulatory oversight.

International Bank Account Number (IBAN) is an international standard for identifying bank accounts across national borders. It was originally adopted by the European Committee for Banking Standards. The IBAN was developed to facilitate payments within the European Union.

The IBAN is not yet used for routing so it remains necessary to use the current Bank Identifier Code system (BIC or SWIFT code) in conjunction with the IBAN. The IBAN may be of varying length depending upon the country involved. Irish IBANs contain 22 characters commencing with the letters IE. At present the United States does not participate in IBAN.

International Financial Services Centre - an area in north-east-central Dublin where many financial institutions have located to take advantage of certain favourable tax conditions as specified in S30 of the Finance Act 1987.

See Financial Regulator.

Transaction fee payable in the context of a payment card network by one participating financial institution to another, e.g. by an acquirer to a card issuer in respect of a card payment by the cardholder to the card acceptor (merchant).

Interest is a rent paid for money borrowed or deposited. Usually expressed as an annual percentage of the principal, the rate is dependent upon the time value of money, the term of the borrowing, market conditions, and individual factors of the particular contract. Interest is normally expressed as a percentage per annum also called the interest rate.

A situation in which payment instruments belonging to a given scheme may be used in other countries and in systems installed by other schemes. Interoperability requires technical compatibility between systems but can only take effect where commercial agreements have been concluded between the schemes concerned. For example, interoperability permits many plastic cards to be used outside the country of issue.

The primary professional education body for banking in Ireland .

Irish Paper Clearing Company Ltd (see clearing).

Irish Payment Services Organisation Ltd is the representative industry body, the voice and guardian of the payments industry, and the strategic interface with all payments stakeholders. Companies within the IPSO umbrella include the IPCC, the IRECC, and the IRIS.

Irish Retail Electronic Payment Clearing Co Ltd (see clearing).

Irish Realtime Interbank Settlement Company Ltd (see RTGS and Large-value Funds Transfer System).

The representative body for the banking industry until the formation of the Irish Bankers Federation (see Irish Bankers Federation).

The representative body for the banking industry.

The six minimum standards for the design and operation of crossborder and multicurrency netting schemes or systems.

(i) Netting systems should have a well founded legal basis under all relevant jurisdictions.

(ii) Netting scheme participants should have a clear understanding of the impact of the particular scheme on each of the financial risks affected by the netting process.

(iii) Multilateral netting systems should have clearly defined procedures for the management of credit risks and liquidity risks which specify the respective responsibilities of the netting provider and the participants. These procedures should also ensure that all parties have both the incentives and the capabilities to manage and contain each of the risks they bear and that limits are placed on the maximum level of credit exposure that can be produced by each participant.

(iv) Multilateral netting systems should at a minimum be capable of ensuring the timely completion of daily settlements in the event of an inability to settle by the participant with the largest single net debit position.

(v) Multilateral netting systems should have objective and publicly disclosed criteria for admission which permit fair and open access.

(vi) All netting schemes should ensure the operational reliability of technical systems and the availability of backup facilities capable of completing daily processing requirements.

This is a funds transfer system through which large-value and high-priority funds transfers are made between participants in the system for their own account or on behalf of their customers. Although as a rule no minimum value is set for the payments they carry, the average size of payments passed through such systems is usually relatively large. Large-value Funds Transfer Systems are sometimes known as wholesale funds transfer systems. The Irish Large-value Funds Transfer System is operated by the Irish Realtime Interbank Settlement Company Ltd using the Target system.

A promise by a bank or other issuer to a third party to make payment on behalf of a customer in accordance with specified conditions. Frequently used in international trade to make funds available in a foreign location.

The risk that a counterparty (or participant in a settlement system) will not settle an obligation for full value when due. Liquidity risk does not imply that a counterparty or participant is insolvent since it may be able to settle the required debit obligations at some unspecified time thereafter.

Magnetic Ink Character Recognition. These are the digits on the bottom line of a cheque and are written in a special font using magnetic ink. Reading by magnetic means is now obsolete and the characters are actually read by optical means, but the MICR font is still used (see OCR).

The term has multiple meanings. In contracts for lending it usually refers to an excess over a reference rate of interest, e.g. a margin of X.Y% over the ECB rate. In securities it refers to the amount by which the value of collateral provided as security for a loan exceeds the amount of the loan. This excess represents the borrower's equity contribution in a transaction that is partly financed by borrowed funds, thus it provides a ¡°margin¡± of safety to the lender over and above the collateral that is pledged.

An attempt to conceal or disguise the ownership or source of the proceeds of criminal activity and to integrate them into the legitimate financial systems in such a way that they cannot be distinguished from assets acquired by legitimate means. Typically this involves the conversion of cash-based proceeds into account-based forms of money.

An instrument used to remit money to the named payee (often used by persons who do not have an account with a bank) to pay bills or to transfer money to another person or to a company. There are three parties to a money order: the remitter (payer), the payee, and the drawee. Drawees are usually financial institutions or post offices. Payees can either cash their money orders or present them to their bank for collection.

A funds transfer system whose settlement operations are completed on a bilateral or multilateral net basis. The Irish clearing systems are Net Settlement Systems.

A person or entity named by another to act on his behalf. A nominee is commonly used in a securities transaction to obtain registration and legal ownership of a security. All major banks and stockbrokers in Ireland offer services of registering shares in the name of a nominee company.

Optical Character Recognition is a technique using special OCR machine-readable characters by which documents, e.g. cheques, credit transfers, direct debits, etc., are read by machines for electronic processing (see also MICR).

Financial transactions that are not reflected on the balance sheet of the financial institution conducting them. Accounting standards have progressively reduced the opportunity for such transactions.

Where a customer maintains multiple accounts (some in credit and some in debit) an arrangement may be made with the bank whereby the interest payable on borrowings is partly or fully eliminated by charging a lesser rate of interest on amounts covered by the credit balances.

(1) In electronic money systems this indicates that a direct connection is made to a centralised computer system for authorisation or validation before a transaction can be executed.

(2) In the context of payment and settlement systems this term may refer to the transmission of transfer instructions by users, through such electronic means as computer-to-computer interfaces or electronic terminals, that are entered into a transfer processing system by automated means.

(3) The term may also refer to the storage of data by a transfer processing system on a computer database such that the user has direct access to the data (frequently in real time) through input/output devices such as terminals.

The risk that deficiencies in information systems or internal controls could result in unexpected losses.

One of the SHA/BEN/OUR options available for foreign currency transactions. If when ordering a foreign currency credit transfer you select the:

•  BEN option - then all charges are charged to the beneficiary.

•  SHA option - then charges will be shared (charges by the originating bank will be paid by the originator, whereas charges by the beneficiary bank will be paid by the beneficiary).

•  OUR option - then all charges are charged to you as the originator.

Note that the SHA option is the only option available for transfers in Euro between countries in Europe .

A Payment System consists of a set of instruments, banking procedures, and interbank funds transfer systems that ensure the circulation of money.

A set of procedures and systems, usually defined by a controlling entity and operated by a number of banks, to provide a specific range of payment services, e.g. Visa, Mastercard, and the Direct Debit Scheme.

A Pan-European Automated Clearing House. The concept of a PEACH for the clearing of credit and debit transactions throughout Europe is promoted by the European Payments Council (EPC) as part of the SEPA project.

A numeric code which the cardholder may need to enter on a keypad for verification of identity. In electronic transactions the combination of the presentation of a card and the keying in of a PIN is seen as the equivalent of a signature.

The phase of the plastic card manufacturing process during which customer information is loaded into the card chip and embossed on the plastic surface.

This term refers to the use of payment cards at a retail location (point of sale). The payment information is captured either by paper vouchers or by electronic terminals which in some cases are designed also to transmit the information. Where this is so, the arrangement may be referred to as ¡°electronic funds transfer at the point of sale¡± (EFTPOS).

Prime rate is a term applied to a reference interest rate used by banks. The term originally indicated the rate at which banks lent to their most favoured customers, though this is no longer always the case. Some variable interest rates may be expressed as a percentage above or below prime rate.

Each bank has its own methodology for setting the prime rate and these methods are not normally available in the public domain. In Ireland it is most likely that banks set their prime rate by reference to EURIBOR.

The continuous (real-time) settlement of funds transfers individually on an order by order basis (without netting). In Ireland the RTGS system is operated by the IRIS (see IRIS).

A phrase used by banks when a cheque or direct debit is dishonoured or 'bounced'.

Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) involves the creation of an area consisting of the Eurozone in which all payment transactions are considered as domestic transactions and cleared through an integrated clearing system. The 28 th January 2008 is considered as a major milestone for SEPA. From that date banks across Europe should offer SEPA credit transfer services.

Seigniorage describes the profits made by issuers of notes and coin and ultimately their major or only shareholder, i.e. the government. Seigniorage can be estimated by multiplying notes and coin outstanding (non-interest bearing central bank liabilities) by the long-term rate of interest on government securities (a proxy for the return on central bank assets). Seigniorage from the issue of euro notes accrues to the European Central Bank. Seigniorage (if any) from the issue of euro coin accrues to the various national governments.

Following the clearing of transactions between banks, a settlement payment is made of the net difference. Such settlement is paid in Central Bank funds each day.

General term used to designate the risk that settlement in a transfer system will not take place as expected. This risk may comprise both credit and liquidity risk.

One of the SHA/BEN/OUR options available for foreign currency transactions. When ordering a foreign currency credit transfer if you select the

•  BEN option - then all charges are charged to the beneficiary.

•  SHA option - then charges will be shared (charges by the originating bank will be paid by the originator, whereas charges by the beneficiary bank will be paid by the beneficiary).

•  OUR option - then all charges are charged to you as the originator.

Note that the SHA option is the only option available for transfers in euro between countries in Europe .

A form of tax levied on certain transaction types. In Ireland such transactions may include the purchase of property or shares, the issuance of cheques, or the usage of plastic cards.

An instruction from a customer to his/her bank to make a regular payment of a fixed amount to a named creditor.

The capture of transaction details directly from front-end trading systems and complete automated processing of payments without the need for re-keying or reformatting data.

The estimation of credit and liquidity exposures that would result from the realisation of extreme interest rate and implied volatility scenarios. Regularly used to consider whether a mortgage applicant has the financial capability to withstand future outcomes.

•  Additional interest charged on loans where payments are in arrears. The nature and extent of such surcharges should be specified in the terms and conditions of a loan.

•  Transaction fee set by an ATM owner and paid directly by the cardholder to the ATM owner for the cost of deploying and maintaining the ATM. These have not been permitted in Ireland to date but may be encountered by Irish users of ATMs in non-euro countries.

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication - a cooperative organisation created and owned by banks that operates a network which facilitates the exchange of payment and other financial messages between financial institutions (including broker-dealers and securities companies) throughout the world. A SWIFT payment message is an instruction to transfer funds; the exchange of funds (settlement) subsequently takes place over a payment system or through correspondent banking relationships.

An 8-character or 11-character code conforming to ISO - 9362 (also known as SWIFT-BIC, BIC code, or SWIFT code) is a standard format of Bank Identifier Codes approved by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). It describes the unique identification code of a particular bank. These codes are used when transferring money between banks, particularly for international credit transfers, and also for the exchange of other messages between banks. The codes can sometimes be found on account statements. The SWIFTCODE is used in conjunction with the IBAN (see IBAN).

A payment system is systemically important whereby if the system were insufficiently protected against risk or disruption within it could trigger or transmit further disruptions amongst participants or further systemic disruptions in the financial area more widely. The main clearing systems in any country are described as such.

The risk that the failure of one participant in a transfer system (or in financial markets generally) to meet its required obligations will cause other participants or financial institutions to be unable to meet their obligations (including settlement obligations in a transfer system) when due. Such a failure may cause significant liquidity or credit problems and as a result might threaten the stability of financial markets.

Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross Settlement Express Transfer: the TARGET system is defined as a payment system composed of one RTGS system in each of the countries which participate in stage three of EMU and the European Central Bank (ECB) payment mechanism. RTGS systems of non-participating countries may also be connected provided that they are able to process the euro alongside their national currency. The domestic RTGS systems and the ECB payment mechanism are interconnected according to common procedures (¡°interlinking¡±) to allow cross-border transfers throughout the European Union to move from one system to another system. TARGET2 is currently being implemented throughout Europe and will offer more advanced clearing/settlement facilities.

A sequential record of transactions that is stored on a device.

See charge card.

A procedure in which the physical movement of paper payment instruments (e.g. paid cheques or credit transfers) within a bank, between banks, or between a bank and its customer, is curtailed or eliminated being replaced in whole or in part by electronic records of their content for further processing and transmission.

A tax on income deducted at source which a paying agent is legally obliged to deduct from its payments of interest on deposits, securities, or similar financial instruments. DIRT (Deposit Interest Retention Tax) in Ireland is an example of such a tax.