12. Maintaining Amount Blocks

An amount block is that part of the balance in a customer’s account, which you wish to reserve for a specific purpose. It can be specified for an account either on the directions of the customer or at the behest of the bank.

When an amount block is set for an account, the balance available for withdrawal is the current balance of the account minus the blocked amount. On expiry of the period for which the amount block is defined the system automatically updates the amount block Cheque in the ‘Customer Accounts’ table. Amount blocks are maintained in the ‘Amount Block Maintenance’ table.

For Example, If the balance in an account is 1000 currency units and the amount block defined is 500 currency units, the actual funds available for withdrawal is only 500 units. An override will be required if the customer withdraws a higher amount.

When a debit to a customer account is made, where the transaction amount exceeds the available balance in the account, the system asks for an ‘override’.

This chapter contains the following sections:

12.1 Hold Code Maintenance

This section contains the following topics:

12.1.1 Maintaining Hold Codes

Whenever you impose an amount block (hold) on customer accounts, a valid reason can be assigned for having effected the hold. You can define these reasons using the ‘Hold Maintenance’ screen.

You can invoke this screen by typing ‘CODHOLDT’ in the field at the top right corner of the Application tool bar and clicking on the adjoining arrow button.

You can capture the following details here:

Hold Code

Specify a code for the amount block reason you are maintaining in the system.

Note

The Hold Code can be a maximum of 15 characters (alphanumeric type) in length.

Hold Description

Provide a brief description of the hold code.

Hold Type

In case you are defining amount hold reasons for automated system hold, select the hold type from the adjoining drop-down list. The available options are:

Note

Except ‘None’, for all other Hold Types mentioned above, only one Hold Code each can be maintained in the system.

12.1.2 Viewing Hold Codes

You can view a summary of Hold Codes maintained in the system using the ‘Hold Summary’ screen. You can invoke this screen by typing ‘COSHOLDT’ in the field at the top right corner of the Application tool bar and clicking the adjoining arrow button.

You can query on records based on any or all of the following criteria:

Click ‘Search’ button. The system identifies all records satisfying the specified criteria and displays the following details for each one of them:

12.2 Amount Block Maintenance

This section contains the following topics:

12.2.1 Maintaining Individual Amount Blocks

You can maintain amount blocks on individual accounts of a customer using the ‘Amount Block Input’ screen. You can invoke this screen by typing ‘CADAMBLK’ in the field at the top right corner of the Application tool bar and clicking on the adjoining arrow button.

You can capture the following details here:

Account Number

Specify a valid account number of the customer for which you wish to maintain an amount block. The adjoining option list displays all valid customer accounts maintained in the selected transaction branch. You can select the appropriate one.

To view the joint holder’s details of an account and the mode of operation maintained at the account level, place the cursor on the Account field and press Ctrl+J. The system displays the ‘Joint Holder’ screen.

For more information on the ‘Joint Holder’ screen refer to the section ‘Joint Holder Maintenance’ in this User Manual.

Sequence Number

The system automatically displays the amount block sequence number.

Amount

Specify the amount which has to be blocked.

Note

Effective Date

Specify the date from which the amount block is effective.

Note

For CASA amount block type, the effective date is the branch current date.

Expiry Date

Specify the date on which the amount block is released, so that it is available for withdrawal to the customer. You cannot modify the amount block after the expiry date

Note

For CASA amount block type, there is no expiry date.

Amount Block Type

Select the amount block type from the adjoining drop-down list. The available options are:

Note

The option ‘System’ indicates a system generated amount block, equivalent to the external deal amount maintained in the system. You cannot modify a ‘System’ type of amount block.

During debit transaction processing, Oracle FLEXCUBE will use ‘Mid Rate’, if the primary account currency and cover account currency are different.

Note

Note

If the amount block type is P2P, then the following transaction data is logged into ‘P2P Payment Beneficiary Registration Queue’ to track the beneficiary registration till the end date:

While processing an amount block, the amount block on the sender’s account is released and

the amount is debited from the senders account and credited to the clearing suspense GL.

Remarks

Specify remarks about the amount block, if any.

Note

For structured deposit, the subscription amount will be blocked from the given CASA ac­count automatically and this system generated block is updated with SD contract refer­ence number in remarks field.

Reference No

The system generates a unique reference number upon saving the record.

Note

System will not allow to closing the respective customer account unless existing active amount blocks are closed.

Hold Code

Specify a valid hold code. The adjoining option list displays all valid hold codes maintained in the system. You can select the appropriate one.

Hold Description

The system displays the hold code description.

Note

For system generated amount blocks corresponding to external deals, the description maintained at Hold Code Maintenance screen for Hold Code Type ‘External Deal’ gets dis­played here.

Source Code

The source from which the amount block has been initiated is displayed. When an amount block is created through a source code, the same can be modified or released by the same source code.

Verify Available Balance

Check this box to enable creation of amount block only when sufficient funds are available.For more details related to external deal maintenance, refer Core Services User Manual.

12.2.2 Viewing Amount Block

You can view a summary of Amount Blocks maintained at the ‘Amount Block Input’ level using ‘Amount Block Summary’ screen.

You can invoke the ‘Amount Block Summary’ screen by typing ‘CASAMBLK’ in the field at the top right corner of the Application tool bar and clicking the adjoining arrow button.

You can view records based on any or all of the following criteria:

Note

The system generated original transaction Reference No of Escrow amount blocks will also be displayed.

Click ‘Search’ button. The system identifies all records satisfying the specified criteria and displays the following details for each one of them:

12.2.3 Maintaining Consolidated Amount Block Details

You can invoke the ‘Consolidated Amount Block Input’ screen by typing ‘CADCAMBL’ in the field at the top right corner of the Application tool bar and clicking on the adjoining arrow button.

In this table, you maintain all amount block details enforced for a customer account. Any number of amount blocks can be enforced for an account.

The following information will be available in this screen:

If you are maintaining consolidated amount blocks for the first time for a customer account, you need to select the name of the customer from the option-list provided. On selection of the customer, all accounts maintained for the customer that are available in the current branch will be displayed in the middle section of the screen along with existing amount block details, if any. Select an account to view all the individual amount blocks for the selected account in the lower half of the screen.

To create a new amount block, click add icon. The sequence number for each amount block will be automatically created by the system.

Maintain the following parameters for the amount block:

Amount

Specify the amount that you would like to block in the account. When an amount block is set for an account, the balance available for transaction would be the current balance of the account minus the blocked amount.

Whenever a customer account is debited of an amount that exceeds the available balance in the account, the system asks for an ‘override’. Note that the available funds in a blocked account will always be shown to be the current balance less the amount block.

The ‘Blocked Amount’ field in the middle section of the screen will display the sum of all the amount blocks placed on the account.

You can raise the blocked amount for an account. On authorization, the ‘Customer Accounts’ table will be updated with the modified blocked amount.

Effective Date

When defining amount blocks for an account, specify the date on which the amount block comes into effect. A future-dated amount block comes into effect when the Beginning of Day process is executed for the day (on which the amount block becomes effective).

Expiry Date

This is the day on which the amount block expires. An amount block is effective till the EOD is run on the expiry date. On expiry of an amount block, the block amount status in the ‘Customer Accounts Maintenance’ table gets updated (if no other amount block is enforced on this account). The balance available for transaction is also updated.

Remarks

Here you can enter any remark specific to this amount block. For example, you can capture the purpose for which a block has been affected.

No Debit

When defining amount blocks, you can choose to completely block the account from any kind of debits made to the account. To do this, select the option ‘No Debit’. At a later point, you can UN Cheque this option to release the full block and define partial blocks if required.

Close

As stated earlier, the amount block will remain active from the effective date till the expiry date. However, you can release a block before the expiry date. Select the ‘Close’ option to affect a forceful closure of the amount block. If you do not select this option, the amount block will be released as part of the EOD batch process executed on the expiry date.

12.3 Processing Amount Block Request from Channels

A file upload facility has been provided from the external channels to the FCUBS system. The Generic Interface (GI) facility is utilized for this purpose. This facility is applicable for the following activities:

This section contains the following topics:

12.3.1 Debit or Credit Transactions Upload

To debit or credit transactions for specific customer accounts in the FCUBS system, a file upload facility has been provided through the interface code ‘IFIEXENT (for incoming) and IFOEXENT (outgoing)’. The outgoing file is linked to the incoming file and generated as per the data set provided in the incoming file.

For a failed transaction, that is, when a transaction leg in the ‘Transaction Reference Number’ fails, then the entire set of entries mapped to the transaction reference number is rolled back (including the amount block). A list of failed transactions and the status of each transactions is provided by the FCUBS system to the external channels.

The amount block reference numbers can be provided only for debit transactions. If the amount block reference number has been provided for a credit transaction, then that particular amount block will not be released. However, the credit transaction will be processed. When the “Amount Block Number” field is “Null” then there is no action taken by the system while processing the uploaded file. If the amount block reference number is provided in this field for a CASA/GL debit transaction during file upload or in the web service then on processing the transaction the following actions occur:

Balancing of Settlement File Received from External Channels

The settlement file is sent in the transaction currency by the external channels. In case the external channel does not send the local currency equivalent amount, then the Oracle FLEXCUBE UBS system converts the transaction amounts into the local currency by applying the applicable conversion rates. The process flow of the transaction is as follows:

12.3.2 Amount Block Request

To create an amount block request using the GI facility, the AMIBLKNW (incoming) has been provided. To provide a response for the incoming files which are received from external channels an interface code AMOBLKST (outgoing) has been provided. The status of the file upload is identified by the error code provided in the outgoing file. The outgoing file would be linked to incoming file and generated in the context of the incoming file data set. The interface code formats provided for incoming and outgoing are the sample formats. Channels can copy this format and create new GI interface codes. Amount block no. should be compulsorily sent in the GI request otherwise outgoing file will not have the amount block number.

12.3.3 Amount Block Modification

To modify amount using the GI facility, the interface code AMIBLKMD (incoming) and AMOBLKST (outgoing) has been provided. The following fields can be modified in the amount block record:

The status of the amount block can be identified through the error code provided in the outgoing file. The outgoing file is linked to the incoming file and generated in the context of the incoming file data set. The amount block number that has to be modified should be provided by the channels. The validations that are applicable for the amount block modification is applied during modification of the amount block through upload facility also. If the modification (increasing/decreasing the amount of block) request has failed for any reason then the original amount of the block is retained. The interface code formats provided for incoming and outgoing are the sample formats. Channels can copy this format and create new GI interface codes

12.3.4 Release of Amount Block

To release an amount block using the GI facility, the interface code AMIBLKCL (incoming) and AMOBLKST (outgoing) is provided. The outgoing file is linked to the incoming file and generated in the context of the incoming file data set. The status of the upload is identified thought the Status Code field. Amount block number that has to be closed should be provided by the channels. The validations that are applicable for the amount block release will be applied during releasing of the amount block through upload facility also.