Overview

One of the key functions of a bank or financial institution is processing transactions and digital payments for businesses and customers. These transactions include sending and receiving transfers, making payments, etc.,  While the processing of these banking transactions appear to be seamless and straightforward on the surface, there is a structure behind the scenes that handles these processes and operations.

In Nigeria, this structure is the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Service (NIBSS). NIBSS is a regulatory payment service that facilitates transactions between banks, financial institutions, and their customers. NIBSS is primarily responsible for the infrastructure that enhances funds transfers. Therefore, every transaction, inter-bank transfer, etc.,  which takes place in Nigeria is processed by NIBSS.

For example, customer XYZ from Bank A is able to make transfers to customer ABC in Bank B and Bank B in turn can receive this cash transfer from Bank A via one of the services provided by using NIBSS called NIBSS Instant Payment.

NIBSS specialty includes automated processing, fund transfers, settlement of payments, etc. By integrating NIBSS, licensed financial organizations can carry out instant inter-bank transfers, payments, and other financial activities with efficiency and improved security of their banking operations.

Following this, banks or licensed organizations that intend to execute fund transfers or have it added to their services must first integrate with NIBSS. However, the NIBSS integration procedure is demanding and time-consuming for financial institutions, which is a significant downside.

The Solution ✅

Woodcore is a core banking application that offers you a platform to build and operate banking services seamlessly.

At Woodcore, we understand the hassles and the lengthy processes financial institutions undergo to integrate with NIBSS and as a core banking application, we are offering a service that provides a seamless connection with NIBSS within a short period of time. Say hello to the solution; NIBSS Connector.

Woodcore NIBSS Connector is a payment service offered to banks and licensed financial institutions to enable real-time bank transfers for customers and businesses. Through the NIBSS connector, our Core Banking Application (CBA)  integrates with NIBSS and handles the heaving lifting of NIBSS integration by providing you with a seamless and secure connection to NIBSS for fund transfers and other transactions between financial institutions in Nigeria.

To save you from the hassle of NIBSS integration, we have completed the integration on your behalf by building a multitenant architecture that can serve multiple customers or tenants at the same time

How it Works with Woodcore ⚙️

As mentioned earlier, we are a core banking application provider, this means that any licensed organization using our core banking can carry out inter-bank transfers, by leveraging on the NIBBS connector without undergoing any further integration.

The connector handles transactions from NIBSS to the CBA and from the CBA back to NIBBS. Generally, NIBSS offers a variety of services ranging from BVN validation, name inquiry, purchasing, and receiving transactions. Today, Woodcore is able to provide these services through the NIBSS connector for banks and other licensed organizations that use our services.  The tenant bank and NIBSS are connected through the NIBSS connector to transmit or receive inter-bank fund transfers.

NIBSS connector receives requests from your tenant bank and communicates with NIBSS to carry out necessary verifications such as name inquiries. The transaction request is processed by NIBSS and a response is sent back to the tenant bank from the NIBSS connector.

In that regard, the connector offers three services that perform these tasks. They include:

1. The Outward service handles fund transfers from one tenant bank to another.
2. The Inward service receives transactions from another bank to the tenant bank, and;
3. Identity service which handles verification of tenants' customers.

Bear in mind that these services are available based on the demand of our tenant banks. Further integrations with NIBSS services can be provided as the needs and requirements of our tenants extend.

What do we require? ➰

• You must be a licensed organization.

The NIBSS connector is only available to organizations licensed to carry out banking operations by NIBSS. For organizations who are not licensed but wish to carry out banking operations can optimize our other connectors service.

• API key

Woodcore requires access to the organization's NIBSS key. This key is provided to every licensed organization by NIBSS.

• Woodcore purse

Every inflow and outflow transaction made via the NIBSS connector has fees and charges attached to it. These charges are deducted from the tenant's Woodcore purse.

Tenants who intend to utilize the NIBSS connector service must have a purse account.

Integration process 🔗

For integration, we are focused on licensed financial organizations who are able to provide us with NUBAN accounts which are generated using your bank codes whenever a savings account is created or activated within your tenant. We verify the accounts to ensure the validity of the tenant's bank account name and number. The integration process of our services:

1. For Inward

2. For Outward

The outward fund transfer process should be done in this flow:

• Get Banks
• Name Enquiry
• Transfer Authentication
• Fund Transfer

Charges and fees 💰

As a tenant of Woodcore, the NIBSS is a value-added service for premium clients. Any tenant who wishes to use the NIBSS connector can request this service. Such tenant is entitled to pay a certain amount per transaction based on the service they are utilizing.

1. Outward service: Tenants are charged N1 per transaction for Outward service.
2. Inward service: Tenants are charged N1 per transaction for Inward service.

These charges and fees are deducted from the tenant's Woodcore purse. The Woodcore purse is a wallet service available for tenants to deposit money that will be deducted for charges and other payments. Charges that the tenant incurs from the usage of either of the Woodcore connectors are deducted from this tenant's purse.

Note that, if there is no available money in the tenant's purse account, the transaction will fail and we will not be able to process transactions for the tenant's bank.

NIBSS Report 🗒️

We provide a detailed report of your transactions in the following ways:

1. Real-time transaction report: This contains a comprehensive report of every single financial transaction as it occurs. This includes reports of successful or unsuccessful up-to-date transaction information including the date and time, the amount, the sender and recipient account information, and any other relevant details. The information is updated as soon as the transaction is processed, and is available immediately for the tenant bank.

2. NIBSS end-of-day report: This contains a detailed report of financial transactions processed during a specific day. This report includes information about received and sent transfers and other activities affecting the account balances of customers. The report is generated at the end of each business day and provides a complete view of the account status as of the close of a specific business day.

Interested in integrating our NIBSS connector service? 😃

See our API Reference for more information.