Payments Routing

[PaulMakinMojaloop]

Hi, I wanted to share some ideas we at Mojaloop have about routing the payments in the context of this demo.

For context, Mojaloop can route payments according to any descriptor (which we call an alias). This could be a mobile phone number, an email address, a string of text, etc. So a national identity number fits right in, and is also on our roadmap in any case.

Mojaloop does not itself retain any knowledge of national identity numbers. Instead, it refers to an external resource, which we call an oracle. This oracle is, at its heart, a lookup table; give me a national identity number, and I'll tell you where this person's account is (which financial institution holds it). With this knowledge, Mojaloop then pings the FI for the precise account details, and then routes the payment.

So to make this work for the demo, we envisage needing to create the following (at a high level):

• An oracle, which maps a set of MOSIP IDs to FIs.
• A tool (for use by, for example, a campaign manager) to add MOSIP IDs and FI details to the oracle.
• A set of FIs (demo, not real) that host accounts associated with the person with each MOSIP ID.
• A Mojaloop deployment, integrated with the oracle and the simulated/demo FIs.

When processing a single payment, we envisage the following process:

• FI accepts the payment request for the MOSIP ID
• (optional) check with MOSIP that the ID is valid (person still alive, for example)
• FI submits payment to Mojaloop
• Query the oracle for the associated FI; ask the FI for the account details
• Route the payment; return the transaction status to the payer.
• At some point later, settle the transaction.

For the bulk payment (G2P), the process is very similar:

• Accept a bulk transfer file (from OpenG2P?) at a simulated FI
• Pre-processing of the file, including a check with MOSIP that the ID is valid; if it isn't, mark it as not for processing
• Submit the file to Mojaloop (all routing as before)
• Return a bulk payment result file to the simulated FI, with the status of all individual transfers.

Given that we are only one small part of this project, I wanted to get this into our shared domain so that I can get comments from everyone else. Is this possible? What mismatches in expectation do we have? For example, is the requirement for someone to update the Mojaloop oracle with MOSIP IDs unreasonable? For the demo, I'm sure we can just pre-populate with identities we want to demo.

Thanks,
Paul

[pramodkvarma]

Thanks @PaulMakinMojaloop.

My responses (@vvujjini please note):

1. Yes, I am familiar with Mojaloop capability to alias any destination using oracle. Question: Does Mojaloop has built in capability to define oracles (look up tables)? Or you depend on external mapping systems?
2. In Oct demo, we will spec out a standard bulk payment interface (CSV format?) which is NOT specific to OpenG2P or MOSIP per se. A generalized one. We will request both OpenG2P and CoreMIS teams to implement the spec and generate payment processing file accordingly. We will also have a spec for status response. If file contains an ID in normative form (say in the form mobile:8888888888 or email:id@domain or mosip:UID etc) you can use your oracle concept to look up and redirect. Even account and wallet IDs will be represented in common format allowing full flexibility in future.
3. Send status back based on processing. Yes, settlement will happen later.

Hope that makes sense.

[PaulMakinMojaloop]

Thanks @pramodkvarma
Some responses:

1. Mojaloop exposes an API for oracle updates; details are here: https://docs.mojaloop.io/legacy/api/als-oracle-api-specification.html
2. The bulk payment interface itself is something we don’t prescribe: it’s between the paying organisation and their FI, where the funds are to be held. We will need to implement a simulated FI for this demo, so the format of the file is something we can work around. The status responses will be derived from the Mojaloop bulkTransfers response message, which includes the status of all individual transfers.
   You’ll note from the oracle API doc that your destination IDs (mobile:8888888888 or email:id@domain or mosip:UID) fit nicely into the API format of Type/ID.
3. Agreed.

I think we're violently agreeing.
Paul

[pramodkvarma]

1. Thanks, will check out.
2. That's fine. As I understand, Mifos has this capability. Will request them to split bulk into individual.

Thanks.
@vvujjini FYI

[vvujjini]

Noted @pramodkvarma

2. Mifos may also stream/aggregate (or stream) status records on the return path.

[PaulMakinMojaloop]

I think we need a design session with Mifos to make sure we're aligned. @pramodkvarma is this something you'd arrange? Or should I just reach out to them?

[pramodkvarma]

@vvujjini can you organise a common session? I would like you and Puneet there as well. Thanks.

[PaulMakinMojaloop]

An issue has come up that I want to share.

In our process flows so far, we've assumed that the association between MOSIP ID and payment account is set up/managed by OpenG2P or CoreMIS. But this gives us a problem when we extend to the general case; one person wanting to pay another.

This leads me to think we need to also include an option where a bank or mobile wallet can carry out this association. The FSP would then be a separate "Relying Party". Consequently, there may be multiple valid MOSIP tokens referring to the same individual in the oracle.

I hope this doesn't give any cause for concern.

[vvujjini]

@PaulMakinMojaloop IMO this in-fact logically maps to "ID-Account Mapper" module in proposed architecture blueprint as well!

@pramodkvarma thoughts?

[PaulMakinMojaloop]

@vvujjini We've been giving a lot of thought to this area. I'd like to share some suggestions with the teams, if I may, to elicit some feedback/further guidance?

[vvujjini]

Thanks Paul. I'll coordinate and send out an invite for discussion.

[vvujjini]

2. Mifos may also aggregate the statuses on the return leg to OpenG2P and CoreMIS.

…

On 19-Aug-2022, at 8:24 PM, Pramod Varma ***@***.***> wrote:  Thanks, will check out. That's fine. As I understand, Mifos has this capability. Will request them to split bulk into individual. Thanks. @vvujjini FYI — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.