Shared Services Payment Network (SSPN) provides for both deferred payments and real-time payments. Deferred payments are settled on a net basis,  while real-time payments are settled on a gross basis.  Final and irrevocable payment, as described under Section 38 of the National Payment System Act (NPSA), occurs for deferred payments upon the sending PCU’s receipt of an acknowledgment/confirmation message from SSPN. Section 38 of the NPSA specifically provides for the finality of payment within SSPN and for the finality of payment for transactions at the APSSS on behalf of a PCU.   

Although, all deferred payments are irrevocable upon a PCU’s receipt of an acknowledgement/ confirmation message, final settlement for deferred payments occurs after each net settlement instruction at the end of each session. Instant fund transfers (IFTs), however, are not affected by these rules.

SSPN generates an acknowledgment/confirmation message for every transaction. The acknowledgment is in the form of a message sent to a PCU electronically. Additionally, SSPN will send a reject message to the sending PCU immediately if a file cannot be read (e.g., data read failure, improper block size, invalid header).