Integrated Standard Chartered Bank with Sierra Leone's national tax system

Standard Chartered Bank operates in Sierra Leone as a government-designated commercial bank for tax revenue collection on behalf of the National Revenue Authority (NRA).

The bank needed a compliant, automated interface with the NRA's Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) — replacing a manual, email-based process that caused 72-hour reporting delays and persistent reconciliation errors.

• Payment information sent to NRA via email after three working days, creating 72-hour delays for taxpayers.
• Manual reconciliation between bank records, NRA data, and Central Bank statements was error-prone and time-consuming.
• No real-time notification mechanism to confirm receipt of tax payments to the NRA or taxpayers.
• No structured process for submitting daily end-of-day transaction files or bank statements to NRA.
• Absence of system-to-system integration created revenue leakage risk and left the bank exposed to compliance gaps.

1. Spec-first, protocol-compliant build

Classic Informatics worked directly from NRA's ITAS interface specification, ensuring the bank-side web service matched required data contracts, message formats, authentication standards, and PTN handling rules from the start.

2. Real-time and batch, both covered

The interface handles real-time payment notifications and scheduled batch processes — end-of-day files and daily bank statements — so SCB's obligations to NRA are met continuously, not just at close of business.

3. Fail-safe transmission design

Polling services were built to retry failed transmissions automatically. Exception reports flag unresolved mismatches, reducing the risk of gaps in NRA's revenue records and giving the bank a clear audit trail.

4. Reconciliation built into the architecture

Three-way reconciliation — real-time notifications, end-of-day files, and bank statements — was designed into the system from the outset, using the Payment Transaction Number (PTN) as the key matching identifier across all records.

Payment Processing Interface

• Real-time payment notification service to NRA on receipt of taxpayer funds
• PTN (Payment Transaction Number) retrieval via ITAS web service
• Payment transaction slip validation and acknowledgment
• Multi-tax-type payment processing on a single PTN

End-of-Day & Statement Submission

• Automated end-of-day file submission to the ITAS web service
• Daily bank statement transmission in XML, JSON, and CSV formats
• SFTP fallback for end-of-day files when web service transmission fails

Reconciliation & Reporting

• Three-way reconciliation across notifications, end-of-day files, and bank statements
• Exception reports for payment mismatches, missing transactions, and dishonoured cheques
• Full audit trail for all interface records, file submissions, and amendments

Standard Chartered Bank's Sierra Leone operations moved from manual, email-based tax reporting to a fully automated, system-to-system connection with NRA's ITAS. Payment processing, taxpayer notifications, and reconciliation now happen in real time or on defined daily schedules — replacing a process that consistently ran 72 hours behind.

Business Impact

• Reduced payment reporting time to NRA from 72 hours to real-time
• Automated daily end-of-day file and bank statement submission to NRA
• Real-time taxpayer notifications on receipt of tax payments at the bank
• Automated three-way reconciliation replacing manual matching processes
• Full audit trail for all transactions, exceptions, and submitted files