GN 02402.384:
Coding Ethiopia Bank Data on the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR)
Effective Dates: 04/10/2017 - Present- Effective Dates: 02/12/2018 - Present
- TN 71 (04-17)
- GN 02402.384 Coding Ethiopia Bank Data on the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR)
- This section describes how to code bank data for international direct deposit (IDD) of Title II benefits to a financial institution (FI) in Ethiopia. The Social Security Administration (SSA) stores IDD bank data on the MBR in the same fields used for United States (U.S.) direct deposit. Special coding identifies the data as a Ethiopia direct deposit and allows us to route benefit payments through the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (FRBKC) and the processor bank in Ethiopia to the beneficiary's local FI.
- NOTE: U.S. domestic (i.e., non-border) field offices (FOs) should not attempt to process an IDD request for this country. U.S. domestic FOs must forward all appropriate information to the Office of Earnings and International Operations, Division of International Operations (OEIO, DIO) for processing. For more detail on IDD requests and forwarding information, see to GN 02402.201, GN 02402.205, GN 01010.255, and GN 01702.310C.
- A. How we receive IDD bank data
- We receive requests to input bank data by mail, phone, or fax in the following formats:
- * Blank check;
- * SSA-1199-OP60 International Direct Deposit Signup Form for Ethiopia or
- * Any document containing required banking information.
- NOTE: If upon receipt of the information, there are any discrepancies, follow instructions in GN 00203.020 and GN 02402.025.
- B. Multi-country contract
- The processing FI for Ethiopia will have a prefix of 68 at the beginning of the Routing Transit Number (RTN).
- C. Overview of IDD for Ethiopia
IDD payments sent to Ethiopia must be in Ethiopian Birr (ETB) accounts at local FIs. The beneficiary must provide complete information to the Embassy, Consulate, or DIO for input. DIO faxes incomplete forms to the Federal Benefits Unit (FBU) at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate that serves that territory. The FBU will contact the beneficiary or FI for the additional information.- The beneficiary must provide complete information to DIO or the Federal Benefits Unit (FBU) for input. DIO will fax incomplete forms to the FBU that serves Ethiopia. The FBU contacts the beneficiary or FI for additional information.
- D. Description of Ethiopia IDD bank data
- The data for coding IDD for Ethiopia comes from banks determined by the FRBKC. The bank data on the MBR consists of 24 characters including Ethiopia country code of “I”.
- E. Procedure for coding Ethiopia bank data
- The FRBKC relies on SSA to provide the complete bank data to ensure correct posting of payments to a customer’s account. If the information is incomplete, the FRBKC rejects the payment and returns the funds to SSA. When establishing or changing IDD bank data for Ethiopia, you can use an SSA system (i.e., Modernized Claims System (MCS), Manual Adjustment Credit and Award Data Entry (MACADE), etc.). However, you must go to ITS.gov to enter the following information:
- * account number
- * account ownership;
- * account type;
- * beneficiary address;
- * country;
- * enrollment status;
- * first and last name of the beneficiary;
- * payee indicator; and
- * Society for Worldwide Internet Financial Telecommunication-Business Identifier Code (SWIFT-BIC).
- 1. SWIFT-BIC code obtained from the FI
- The SWIFT code contains a minimum of 8 characters and a maximum of 11 characters:
- * First four characters - bank code (only letters);
- * Next two characters - ISO 3166-1 alpha-two country code (only letters);
- * Next two characters - location code (letters and digits) (passive participant have "1" in the second character); and
- * Last three characters - branch code, optional ('XXX' for primary office) (letters and digits).
- 2. Initial award processing
- If you are working on an initial award, you must update ITS.gov using the bank account information prior to processing the award to ensure that the beneficiary receives his or her payment. If the complete bank account information is not in ITS.gov when the payment processes, the payment rejects and returns to SSA.
- 3. Adding or updating bank data using SSA systems
- You must update ITS.gov on the same day if you use an SSA system to add or update bank data on the MBR (i.e. Post Entitlement Online System (POS), MACADE, etc.). Enter all POS direct deposit changes according to normal procedures. When coding IDD bank data in an SSA system for Ethiopia within four business days of the current operational month (COM) cutoff date, use the procedure outlined in the following chart:
- STEP
- ACTION
- 1
- Are you coding an initial claim?
- If yes, go to step 3.
- If no, go to step 2.
- 2
- Is the beneficiary's address on the MBR in a foreign country (PCOC = 8)? If no, STOP.
- REASON: The MBR does not accept the IDD information unless the address is in a foreign country.
- If yes, go to step 3.
- 3
- Is the beneficiary's account an ETB account in Ethiopia? If no, STOP.
- REASON: Beneficiaries in Ethiopia can only receive IDD payments in ETB accounts.
- If yes, go to step 4
- 4
- The RTN is 680000051 for all IDD to Ethiopia. SSA and FRBKC have designated 68 as the multi-country prefix for Ethiopia IDD. The “1” at the end of the RTN represents the U.S. check digit code for all IDD accounts in Ethiopia. Therefore, there is no need to obtain the check digit code from Title II Interactive Comps.
- 5
- Code the Type of Account as an “S” for savings or a “C” for checking. If no indicated account type, use a “C” for checking account.
- 6
- To code the Depositor Account Number (DAN) for Ethiopia, code as follows:
- * Start with a country code of “I” designated for Ethiopia
- * Code the 13-digit Customer Account Number
- 7
- You must take action on the same business day to update the full SWIFT into ITS.gov, along with the information listed in the introduction of GN 02402.384E in this section.
- If you do not have access to ITS.gov, ask a co-worker who has access to update the required information into ITS.gov. FRBKC will need all of this information in order to process the IDD payment. When this information is not available, FRBKC will reject the payment and return it to SSA.
- F. Example - Coding Ethiopia Direct Deposit
- The customer provides us with a signup form for Ethiopia containing the following information:
- Account Number: 1234567890123
- 1. Derive the RTN as follows
- * Code an RTN of 680000051
- * Code the type of account as a “C” for Checking or an “S” for Savings. If no account type indicated, use a “C” for Checking.
- 2. Derive the DAN as follows
- * Start with a country code of “I” designated for Ethiopia; and
- * Code the 13-digit Customer Account Number “1234567890123”
- The technician will obtain the following:
- RTN: 680000051
- Checking
- DAN: I1234567890123
- The coding in POS will reflect:
- DIRECT DEPOSIT ROUTING TRANSIT NUMBER: 680000051
- ACCOUNT TYPE (C/S): C
- DEPOSITOR ACCOUNT NUMBER: I1234567890123
- CANCEL DIRECT DEPOSIT (Y):
- DIRECT EXPRESS (Y):
- The MBR will reflect the following information:
- RTN-680000051 DAN-CI1234567890123
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