Question:

(a) The Mauritius Automated Clearing and Settlement System (MACSS) is the Mauritian Real-time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system.

(i) Define the term gross settlement, by making reference to the netting process.

(ii) The RTGS system is a type of payment system operating in real-time rather than batch processing mode. Give an example of batch processing.

(b) With reference to the following two points:

(i) return of a settled payment sent in error, and

(ii) payments unable to be applied, outline briefly the procedure put in place for MACSS participants to deal with incorrectly processed payments.

(c) Outline briefly the content requirements of specific MACSS payment messages.

(d) Explain how transactions in the queue (within the MACSS) are managed, by making clear reference to the following:

(i) the FIFO and queue priorities assigned by participants,

(ii) cancelling payments from the queue,

(iii) queue treatment of account transfers, and

(iv) treatment of unsettled transactions at end-of-day.