System for clearing financial transactions

摘要

A system is provided for clearing financial transactions as between banking institutions optionally by way of one or more clearing houses. A plurality of banking institutions are each enabled to communicate directly with each other and with at least one clearing house. Each banking institution has a computerized server programmed to address clearance requests to at least some of the plurality of banking institutions in the system by way of a particular route. The computerized server of at least one banking institution in the system is programmed to route clearance requests selectively and, as may be necessary, sequentially directly to one or more of the other banking institutions and clearing house in the alternative. Selection means associated with the computerized server are provided for selecting a particular one of said at least one other banking institution and clearing house according to a predetermined sequence and typically according to least cost.

主权项

1. A system for clearing financial transactions comprising:
a computerized server of a banking institution enabled to communicate with computerized servers of other banking institutions and with a computerized server of a clearing house, wherein the computerized server of the banking institution is programmed to address clearance requests to at least two computerized servers of at least two of the other banking institutions, wherein the at least two other banking institutions are banking institutions other than clearing house institutions; wherein the computerized server of the banking institution is programmed to route clearance requests selectively and sequentially to the at least two computerized servers of the at least two other banking institutions directly instead of first routing the clearance requests to the computerized server of the clearing house, and wherein the computerized server comprises a means for selecting a particular one of said at least two other banking institutions and the clearing house according to a predetermined sequence, in which the means for selecting includes a priority list, wherein the priority list includes IP addresses for computerized servers of said banking institutions and bank institution numbers for the banking institutions, and wherein the means for selecting initially selects a route directly to a first IP address of the computerized server of a first of said at least two other banking institutions and, in the event that the relevant transaction clearance is rejected for any reason by the computerized server of the first of said at least two other banking institutions, the means for selecting thereafter selects a route either directly to a second IP address of a second computerized server of a second of said at least two other banking institutions or alternatively to a third IP address of the computerized server of the clearing house in accordance with said predetermined sequence.