Q-Cash: a New Era in Banking

We have collected our data mostly from journals and Internet. But they were not enough. So, we have visited ITCL (it consultants limited) to observe their system by us and taken some interview of people related to the system. General plan of the report In the following pages, the discussion will give an over all view of Q-Cash ATM network in Bangladesh. Firstly, comes with the name of the ten banks that are using the Q-Cash ATM network, definition of Q-Cash, then the introduction of Q-Cash card, key features of it, facilities of using it and the related discussions about it are given.

The smartness of this card will ensure that it is capable of working both “offline” and “online” thus making it a perfect case for using in Bangladesh where online connectivity cannot be guaranteed due to poor telecommunication. The Q-Cash card is more than just an ATM card. It can be used as a combination of debit and credit facility.

More importantly, Q-Cash card contains a microchip that allows storing money as well as transactions and accounting information within – transforming the way you do your banking. The Q-Cash card network offers all your banning requirements without ever setting foot in a bank.

It’s more than just an ATM service for quick withdrawals or account enquiries. With the unique Point of Sale (POS) terminals, situated in shops, restaurants and other service centres around the city, you can use your Q-Cash card to pay for goods and serves by debiting or by credit your account directly.

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Since your q-cash card can store account information microchip, ATM and POS services can be accessed without the need for online authorisation from your bank. The card can also act as a credit card (if approved by the bank) and can be affiliated with VISA, MASTERCARD etc. What is Smart Card

Smart Card is one of the latest additions to the world of information technology. Similar in size to today’s plastic payment card, the smart card has a microprocessor or memory chip embedded in it. The chip stores electronic data and programs that are protected by advanced security features. When coupled with a reader, the smart card has the processing power to serve many different applications. As an access-control device, smart cards make personal and business data available only to the appropriate users. Another application provides users with the ability to make a purchase or exchange value.

Smart cards provide data portability, security and convenience. There are different types of security mechanisms used in smart cards. Those necessary for a memory-only card are less sophisticated than those for a microprocessor card. Access to the information contained in a smart card is controlled two ways: ? Who can access the information (everybody, the card holder or a specific third party). ? How can the information be accessed (read only, added to, modified or erased).Key feature of the Q-cash Smart card ? It is an ICC (integrated circuit chip). It has a chip of 8 pins.

This chip consists of operating system, processor, ROM and RAM . It also has a memory of 16kb. Meets EMV specifications and ISO 9001 Standards. Performs both online and offline transactions. Compatible with Subscriber Identification Module [SIM] like mobile phone. Compatible with Security Access Module (SAM) to help safeguard sensitive customer information and help support multiple smart card schemes. Supports memory/microprocessor smart cards and magnetic stripe cards in the same plastic. EMV Compatibility Over the past few years, there has been tremendous growth in the number of solutions developed for smart cards.

To address this growth, three of the leading card associates- Euro Pay, MasterCard and Visa has collaborated to develop and publish EMV specifications for smart card based debit and credit applications. These standards provide numerous benefits for acquire and issuers, including improved security to reduce fraud and lower telecommunications costs. Facilities of Q-cash card Q-Cash card has the facilitates of Credit and Debit transactions all in a single card and also gives the following accesses: ? Cash Deposit ? Debit Transaction ? Cash Withdrawal ? Credit Transaction ? Fund Transfer ? Account Information Customer Account Statement ? Smart Card Loading ? Balance Inquiry ? Online Offline ? Mini Statement ? Hours Banking ? Chequebook Request ? Internet Banking ? Pin Change ? Any Time Anywhere Banking ? Utility Bill Payment  Difference of Q-cash card and credit card Q-cash card take funds directly from the money that is in the bank account of the cardholder.

For this reason we don’t have to pay any interest to the bank. With a Q-cash card, don’t have to carry cash or checks, and it is very convenient to shop at a variety of places including gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, and retail stores. They provide instant access to your money and are accepted worldwide. In a credit card, users actually borrow money that is made available to him by a bank or other financial institution. The institution pays the debt to the vendor, and in turn, cardholder has to pay the money back to the bank. By signing up for a credit card, you agree to pay back the money that you borrowed, in addition to any interest drawn on the amount you borrowed. what is an ATM An Automated Teller Machine (ATM) is a tool, which allows customers of a bank to perform banking transactions at any time from anywhere.

By using a smart card in the machine customers of a bank can withdraw money from their current account (if permitted by the bank from savings account), transfer funds, pay utility bills even take credit from the bank. The most attractive site of this ATM is it gives a user 24 hours banking facility, which is totally hassle free and user friendly. Invention of ATM As is often the case with inventions, many inventors contribute to the history of an invention. In the case of the ATM, Don Wetzel invented the first successful and modern ATM in the USA, however he as not first inventor to create an ATM.

In 1939, Luther George Simjian started patenting an earlier and not-so-successful version of an ATM. Don Wetzel was the co-patentee and chief conceptualist of the automated teller machine At the time (1968) Wetzel was the Vice President of Product Planning of a company named Docutel. The other two inventors listed on the patent were Tom Barnes, the chief mechanical engineer and George Chastain, the electrical engineer. It took five million dollars to develop the ATM. The concept of the modern ATM first began in 1968, a working prototype came about in 1969 and Docutel was issued a patent in 1973.

The first working ATM was installed in Rockville Center, New York Chemical Bank. The ATM they first created was a cash dispenser only. These were off-line machines; meaning money was not automatically withdrawn from an account. The bank accounts were not connected by a computer network to the ATM. Therefore, banks were at first very exclusive about who they gave ATM privileges to. Giving them only to credit card holders (credit cards were used before ATM cards) with good banking records. Wetzel, Barnes and Chastain developed the first real ATM cards, cards with a magnetic strip and a personal ID number to get cash.

ATM cards had to be different from credit cards (then without magnetic strips) so account information could be included. The next version that was created in 1971, which is the ATM we all know today. Features and parts of ATM An ATM contains many parts. ATM can differ from one to another because many companies are producing ATM this days and the technology they use differs. The ATM has mainly 2 input devices and 4 output devices. Descriptions of these two types of devices are as follows. Input device

Card reader: The card reader captures the account information stored on the microprocessor chip and magnetic stripe on the ATM/debit or credit card. The host processor uses this information to route the transaction to the cardholder’s bank. Keypad: The keypad lets the cardholder tell the bank what kind of transaction is required (cash withdrawal, balance inquiry, etc. ) and for what amount. In some of the machines the screen can be also used to enter data instead of the keypad. This type of screens is called Touch Screen. Also, the ATM requires the cardholder’s personal identification number (PIN) for verification.

For better security PIN block is sent to the host processor in encrypted form. Output device Display screen: The display screen prompts the cardholder through each step of the transaction process. Leased-line machines commonly use a monochrome or colour CRT (cathode ray tube) display. Dial-up machines commonly use a monochrome or colour LCD. [pic] Receipt printer: The receipt printer provides the cardholder with a paper receipt of the transaction. Cash dispenser: The heart of an ATM is the safe and cash-dispensing mechanism. The entire bottom portion of most small ATMs is a safe that contains the cash.

The cash dispenser mechanism has an electric eye that counts each bill as it exits the dispenser. The bill count and all of the information pertaining to a particular transaction is recorded in a journal. Besides the electronic eye that counts each bill, the cash dispensing mechanism also has a sensor that evaluates the thickness and the size of each bill. If two bills are stuck together, then instead of being dispensed to the cardholder they are diverted to a reject bin. The same thing happens with a bill that is excessively worn or torn, or is folded.

The number of reject bills is also recorded so that the machine owner can be aware of the quality of bills that are being loaded into the machine. Speaker: The speaker provides the cardholder with auditory feedback when a key is pressed. 3. 0 Q-cash: How the system works 3. 1 A brief overview of the Q-cash consortium To run the Shared ATM Network all over Bangladesh, all the member banks formed a consortium known as Q-Cash consortium. The Q-cash consortium has a total number of ten (10) leading Banks in Bangladesh. These banks together have build up an extensive ATM network in Dhaka, Chittagong & Sylhet in first phase.

About ITC ITC or Information Technology Consultants Limited works as the server or as an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or the host in the shared ATM network. ITC is the company which brought the Q-cash system first in Bangladesh . It is a sister concern of Envoy Group. Originally it was introduced by a foreign organization named “Gemplus”. They are providing the smart card, ATMs and all the technical and management supports of the Q-cash consortium. . 3 Network system of q-cash All the locations of these ten banks and POS centres that have Q-cash are joined together by two kinds of networking relationship. These networking functions are performed for withdrawals of cash from the account, to get account information, pay the utility bills and transactions through POS.

These two types of networking relationship are  Offline relationship and  Online relationship Offline relationship with Q-cash system is used for POS and the utility bill paying and the online relationship with the system is used for withdrawal of cash and other activities concerning the users account. Offline relationship An offline relationship is the part of the networking system were the transactions are not connected to the server of the ATM host. This offline relationship can be found on the POS system. POS means Point Of Sales. In this system a Q-cash cardholder can buy products from the shops, which is connected with the host computer. Using their q-cash card the user will pay his bills by inserting his card in a small machine. The machine is capable of reading the memory chip in the card.

As the account information of the user is already in the card the machine can authenticate the user and the amount of money the user has on his account. This entire process has no connection with the server or with the bank of the user. online relationship Online relationship is the part of the network that is done completely by online with the help of the ATM host. The host processor may be owned by a bank or financial institution, or an independent service provider may own it. All the controlling branches of the banks have an online relationship with the host.

Host connects the ATMs of different locations with the banks of the network. To maintain the connections between the ATMs Banks and POS the host uses different types of communication media. Most host processors can support either leased-line or dial-up machines. Leased-line machines connect directly to the host processor through a four-wire, point-to-point, dedicated telephone line. Dial-up ATMs connect to the host processor through a normal phone line using a modem and a toll-free number, or through an Internet service provider using a local access number dialled by modem.

Leased-line ATMs are preferred for very high-volume locations because of their thru-put capability, and dial-up ATMs are preferred for retail merchant locations where cost is a greater factor than thru-put. DDN technology is a new one in modern online banking. It is a kind of digital connection, which performs better than the leased line connections. Usually these sorts of connections relate the host and the ATMs. The most effective feature of DDN is to transfer data at a higher speed than that of leased lines or the Dial-up lines. This is how ATM networks become available to the cardholder (the person wanting the cash). Techniques of the online relationship followed by ITC In online connection the members of the Q-cash consortium is connected with ITC (host) by simple dialup connection. They connect the host processor or the ITC through a normal phone line using a modem and a toll-free number.

ITC is connected with the ATMs and POS terminals of different places all over the country by leased line, DDL, Satellite connection, Radio link, Dial-up connection. These various types of communication facilities are used because the telecommunication infrastructure of Bangladesh is very weak. So if one system is collapsed the other will work. But mainly the DDL is used for communicate with the ATMs (provided by Bangladesh Tar and Telephone Board), Dial-up connection is used for to communicate with POS terminals and the banks, satellite for overseas connection with banks and radio link for remote places. When a user of a bank inserts his ATM card in the ATM and enters his PIN the ATM directly connects with the host ITC for authentication. In the authentication process the host (ITC) checks the security pin and performs the other security checking’s. If the user of the card is authorised host connects the ATM with the users bank server.

In the process, the server of the bank checks the account and adjusts the balance. This is called authorization. The server of the bank performs the action by using a system called core-banking software. If a server of bank does not have the core banking software, they inform ITC the numerical position of the account of all their Q-cash cardholders via dial-up connection. Thus ITC always gets the numerical information on the account position of the customers of the bank. In this case the host (ITC) does the work of both authentication and authorization. Automated clearing house (ACH) ACH” is short for “automated clearing house. ” This bank terminology means that a person or business is authorizing another person or business to draft on an account. When a cardholder wants to do an ATM transaction via POS, he or she provides the necessary information by means of the card reader and keypad.

The card reader forwards this information to ITC via Dial-up connection. Which routes the transaction request to the cardholder’s bank that issued the card. If the cardholder is requesting to pay, the host (ITC) processor causes electronic funds transfer to take place from the customer’s bank account to the host processor’s account. The processor then ACHs the cardholder’s funds into the merchant’s bank account. In this way, the merchant is reimbursed for all funds dispensed by the ATM. An independent ATM host can access any bank. It also supports a large number of ATMs placed with different merchants. So when the user authorises to pay the cash, the money moves electronically from users account to the host’s account to the merchant’s account. Security Q-cash is fully secured. The main concept of the security process of Q-cash system is any cardholder can only carry out transaction on Q-cash ATMs with a Personal Identification Number (PIN) .

If a person loses his card others cannot use it that because transactions cannot be done without the PIN. The Q-cash smart card is a PIN protected card with DES, 3DES function to ensure security. DES is an encryption algorithm used to protect sensitive data – in this case the PIN. The DES algorithm uses a 56-bit key length; 3DES specifies three rounds of encryption, effectively increasing the key length to 168 bits. Q-cash smart card is also EMV compatible. Future prospects of Q-cash Since it is made with hybrid technology, it can read or write any kind of data.

So, in the near future it can be used as voter id, club, insurance, driving or even national identity card. More updated security system is getting included in the card, so the user will have more security. New features of banking are getting included in it and the users will get the latest banking feature by using it. Conclusion Q-Cash service is getting popular day by day in our country. More banks are getting themselves included in the network. All the cards will be converted into smart card till 2006 and we are getting it in right now. It has the potential to be utilized in a greater aspect.

So, it has given a new dimension in the banking sector in Bangladesh. Appendix Definition of terms There are some unfamiliar terms that were not described in the discussion. So, the definitions of terms are given below alphabetically. ATM (Automated Teller Machine) – the machine that provides the users to deposit or to withdrawal money. ACH (Automated clearing house) a centralized and computerized system for setting indebtedness between members. BTTB(Bangladesh Tar and Telephone Board) It is a government service for nationwide telecommunication.

Card reader – a device of ATM machine that gathers the account information stored on the magnetic stripe on the back of a Q-Cash card. CRT (cathode ray tube) – the most common type of monitor used in the office and home is CRT. CRT is similar in size and technology to television. Credit card – a car through which a person can buy things on credit. DDN (digital data network) – a digital data network provided by in order to connect to the ISP host. Dispenser – the path trough which cash is dispensed from ATM. ISP (internet service provider) – the organization that provides Internet service.

Keypad – the input device by which the cardholder tells the ATM the nature, the amount of the transaction and the pin. LCD (liquid crystal display) – LCD monitor use the technology that involves liquid crystals. It is much thinner then CRTs. Modem – The device that helps the user to connect his computer to some sorts of networking system. Offline relationship – all the branches of any of the ten banks that manually connect with their card issuing branch. Online relationship – all the branches of any of the ten banks that connect with their card issuing branch by a host processor to work in online.

Pin – the secret code to access into the account of a cardholder to perform account related functions. Receipt printer – The device that provide a cardholder with a paper receipt of the transaction. Server – the part of Internet system that stores information files that are used to display pages of information. Speaker – the device provides the cardholder auditory feedback when a key is pressed. Sensor – a device of ATM that evaluates the thickness of each bill. Bibliography Interviews Md. Wajid Ahmed Project leader (Q-Cash EMV) IT Consultants Limited Md. Faizul Islam System Engineer Q-cash Processing System IT Consultants Limited Interview on September 4, 2004 Newspaper articles The Daily star “Local private it firm plans shared ATMs for Bangladesh” April 25, 2001 Prothom Alo “It consultant is providing different kind of ATMs for banks”

References

• April 25, 2001 Dainik Jugantor “24 hour Q-Cash card is getting started” July 14, 2002
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