MESSAGE: pacs.004 Payment Return (Not yet supported)

Support for the pacs.004 Payment Return message will be added in a future release of Nexus, when the volume of returns justifies the cost of adapting IPS and PSP systems to support the message.

The pacs.004 payment return message has a number of advantages over returning a payment via pacs.008:

• pacs.004 includes elements to describe the reason for the return

• pacs.004 separately records the “Original” Interbank Settlement Amount and the “Returned” Interbank Settlement Amount. This better accommodates situations where the amount returned is not the same as the amount originally sent, due to changes in FX rates or retention of fees by the Destination PSP

• pacs.004 allows for recording the Returned Instructed Amount, ensuring that the Sender is credited with the appropriate amount. This may not be possible when using pacs.008 for a return.

The main advantage of initiating a return via a pacs.004 message is the ability to correlate the return with the original message. This ensures that:

• no data is lost in the return

• the exact amounts (the amount settled in the S-IPS, the amount settled in the D-IPS and the amount credited to the Creditor) are known in the respective currencies, allowing the return to be processed in such a way that the original transaction is cancelled out

• validation can be applied to ensure that:

  • only one return can be initiated for a payment

  • no return can be initiated for a transaction that has been blocked or rejected

  • a validation on the timing of a return can be added (i.e. only allowing returns within a certain period after the initial payment)