ABSTRACT

Although numerous standards have been proposed for standardization in both documentation and payment areas, there is still no agreement on the right ones for EBPP. The complexity surrounding the standardization process should not be underestimated. A number of standard processes for EBPP need to be defined and implemented. Areas that EBPP touches include the banking industry, e-commerce industry, clearing business, data-processing software industry, and the financial transaction industry. The banking industry is responsible for some of the complexities. Electronic financial transactions — from automated clearinghouses (ACH) to online stock trading — are very complicated. With EBPP, this complexity is multiplied by adding a further layer of technology and interoperability problems. Cross-discipline cooperation is needed among vendors, billers, payers, and banking institutions. The banking industry must be considered as a leading player in the standardization process because of its integral position in the EBPP process. There are three main areas requiring further development:

A single multicommunications system for financial data interchange between the banking industry, EBPP vendors, and transaction processors

A standardized template for communication of biller data into a format recognizable and presentable by billing vendors and bill presenters

A standardized data technology for scaling, developing, and adding to systems based on a common programming language

This chapter addresses documentation standards first, followed by payment standards. Finally, there is a discussion of potential alliances among EBPP entities that might help in implementing standard processes.