The purpose of a payment is the financial settlement of a transaction. No matter whether the underlying transaction is physical, service-related, or otherwise, money is being tranferred in order to settle a debt.

In the case of bank money, i.e. in cashless payment transactions, the steps of the transaction model are processed either partly or completely digitally. Unlike handing over cash, this can be achieved in the absence of the contractual parties involved. For this purpose, a payment is triggered at the level of the payer and the payee. The respective payment is carried out at the institutional level. This can be accomplished via several networks that operate on a worldwide scale. Subsequently, payments can be made using payment systems without having the Payer and Payee establish a binding contractual relationship.   

The extent of parties involved in the systems described above are shown in the following chart. Click on the symbols to learn more.