Structured Financial Messaging System

SFMS is a SWIFT like messaging standard for messages. SFMS is an EDI (Electronic Data Intervention) for banks and it uses INFINET as the communication medium. Various intrabank applications can make use of SFMS to improve efficiency and speed in fund transfer, MIS reports, information reports, etc.
The basic architecture of SFMS is a 4-tier architecture with HUB connected to Bank Gateways, which are connected to Bank Servers. The Bank Servers in turn are connected to Offline branches. The SFMS messages from a bank branch to another bank branch will be delivered via Bank Gateways and the Hub. The Hub will be located at IDRBT, Hyderabad. Intrabank messages can be switched at the Bank Gateway level and need not come to Hub.

INFINET is all set to become the communication backbone for National Payments System, catering to inter bank applications like RTGS, Delivery Vs Payment (DVP), Government Transactions, and Automatic Clearing House (ACH) etc. INFINET architecture primarily consists of the HUB, the Bank Gateway sites and the Branch sites connected to one another in a well-defined hierarchy.

The security aspect of SFMS will be taken care of using PKI based security environment. Authentication, Confidentiality, Non-Repudiation and Integrity will be taken care of by PKI based security features. Under Public Key Infrastructure each entity will have a public key and a private key. Digital Signature will be a part of every message sent on SFMS. Digital Certificate to reside in smart card issued to authorized personnel. Smart card based access at the point of message generation will provide additional security and audit trail.

For more details regarding SFMS, Click here.