With the application of computers in banks, banks have been able to convert funds represented by physical objects such as cash and bills into funds represented by data stored in computers, and to convert cash flow and bill flow into data flow in computer networks. This kind of funds stored in computers in the form of data and available through computer networks are vividly called electronic money, and the bank computer network system on which they depend is called the electronic funds transfer system. Electronic sales arrangements in retail stores, automatic withdrawal transactions in banks, direct deposits or withdrawals made by bank customers through bank electronic facilities, etc. are all electronic funds transfers, or electronic funds transfers.
From the perspective of capital flow, the parties involved in electronic funds transfers can be divided into five categories.
(1) Originator. The originator refers to the person who issues the first payment order in a funds transfer. The originator is also called the payee, who is generally the debtor. The person who issues the order to the receiving bank.
(2) Originator bank. If the originator is not a bank, the receiving bank of the first payment order is the originator’s bank; if the originator is a bank, the originator is the originator’s bank. The originator is not required to open an account in the originator’s bank in advance.
(3) Beneficiary bank. The beneficiary bank refers to the bank specified in the payment order.
(4) Beneficiary. The beneficiary refers to the party to whom the funds transfer is successful and the beneficiary bank credits its account or pays the money directly to it, also known as the payee.
(5) Receiving bank. The receiving bank refers to the bank to which the order is sent. It is an intermediary bank that is neither the originator’s bank nor the beneficiary’s bank.
In addition, the concepts of the orderer and the receiving bank are relative. If the originator is the orderer of the originator’s bank, the originator’s bank is the receiving bank; if the originator’s bank is also the orderer of the intermediary bank, the intermediary bank is the receiving bank of the originator’s bank, and so on, until the funds finally reach the beneficiary, forming a funds transfer chain.