Introduction
In today’s competitive financial landscape, banks are driven by a dual imperative: deliver superior customer service and comply with stringent regulatory standards. At the heart of these challenges is the processing of financial transactions, particularly money transfers that must be validated, recorded, and audited with precision and efficiency. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers a powerful solution, streamlining the entire lifecycle of financial document handling by combining document parsing, natural language processing, intelligent validation, and real-time database interaction.
This article presents a comprehensive, real-life implementation scenario where AI automates the extraction, validation, and handling of money transfer orders in a French banking context. Each section includes real C# code examples, deep commentary, and illustrates how AI interacts with backend systems to achieve seamless, secure, and intelligent automation.
The Strategic Imperative for Automation in French Banking
Banks like BNP Paribas process large volumes of domestic and international money transfers daily. Manual operations are slow, prone to human error, and challenging to scale. Automation is no longer optional—it is a strategic necessity.
With AI
- Data is validated instantly against SEPA and SWIFT requirements.
- Errors are reduced, improving customer experience.
- Operations teams are freed to focus on exception handling.
A digital-first, AI-enabled infrastructure ensures consistency, cost efficiency, and future scalability.
Image Normalization and Upload Management
The AI workflow begins when users upload transfer documents in image format. This step involves:
- Extracting file metadata
- Converting image types to JPEG
- Generating a web-accessible URL
string imagePath = userFilePath;
string fileName = Path.GetFileName(imagePath);
string localUrl = $"{HttpContext.Request.Scheme}://{HttpContext.Request.Host}/wwwroot{relativePathx}";
Using .NET libraries, we ensure the image is compatible with the AI OCR pipeline.
Optical Character Recognition and Contextual Text Extraction
After image conversion, the system sends the image to an AI model that performs OCR and extracts financial data. The AI uses the surrounding prompt to contextualize the text:
architectadvice = await ChatMeAsyncAvatar("Please extract text from this image:", tempI, filePathx);
OCR returns raw fields like IBAN, amount, date, and description, embedded within financial language constructs.
Defining and Validating the French IBAN Structure
AI validates each IBAN based on the official structure used in France:
- Length: 27 characters
- Format: FRkk BBBB BGGG GGCC CCCC CCCC CKK
- Checksum: MOD 97 == 1
IBAN: FR7630006000011234567890189
Transactions with malformed IBANs are flagged and highlighted in red in the returned report.
Parsing Extracted HTML and Extracting Key Fields
Once AI outputs the results in HTML, the C# backend parses each field using a more professional dictionary-based approach:
var document = new HtmlDocument();
document.LoadHtml(inputString);
var rows = document.DocumentNode.SelectNodes("//tr");
string bankName = string.Empty;
string dateStr = string.Empty;
string accountNo = string.Empty;
string transferAccountNo = string.Empty;
string amountStr = string.Empty;
string companyName = string.Empty;
string authorizedPerson = string.Empty;
string description = string.Empty;
string paymenttype = string.Empty;
var fieldMapping = new Dictionary<string, Action<string>>(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
{
{ "Bank Name", val => bankName = val },
{ "Date", val => dateStr = val },
{ "Account Number", val => accountNo = val },
{ "Transfer Account Number", val => transferAccountNo = val },
{ "Amount", val => amountStr = val },
{ "Company Name", val => companyName = val },
{ "Authorized Person", val => authorizedPerson = val },
{ "Description", val => description = val },
{ "Payment Type", val => paymenttype = val }
};
foreach (var row in rows)
{
var cells = row.SelectNodes("td");
if (cells != null && cells.Count == 2)
{
string field = cells[0].InnerText.Trim();
string value = cells[1].InnerText.Trim();
if (fieldMapping.TryGetValue(field, out var assignAction))
{
assignAction(value);
}
}
}
Multicultural Date and Currency Format Handling
In a global banking environment, format differences must be handled gracefully. The system supports multiple cultures:
var cultures = new[] {
new CultureInfo("en-US"),
new CultureInfo("fr-FR"),
new CultureInfo("de-DE")
};
DateTime datex = DateTime.MinValue;
foreach (var culture in cultures)
{
if (DateTime.TryParse(dateStr, culture, DateTimeStyles.None, out datex))
break;
}
if (datex == DateTime.MinValue)
{
throw new Exception("Failed to parse date.");
}
Handling Currency Normalization for French Format
French numeric formats differ from others. For example, “1 200,50 EUR” must be parsed correctly:
amountStr = amountStr.Replace(" ", "").Replace("EUR", "").Trim();
bool amountParsed = false;
decimal amountDecimal = 0;
foreach (var culture in cultures)
{
if (decimal.TryParse(amountStr, NumberStyles.Currency, culture, out amountDecimal))
{
amountParsed = true;
break;
}
}
if (!amountParsed)
{
string cleanedAmountStr = amountStr.Replace(".", "").Replace(",", ".");
decimal.TryParse(cleanedAmountStr, NumberStyles.Currency, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out amountDecimal);
}
SQL Query Construction and Secure Insertion
Once the clean SQL template is retrieved from AI:
string sinputString = architectUpdateSQL;
int startIndex = sinputString.IndexOf("@\"") + 2;
int endIndex = sinputString.LastIndexOf("\";");
string cleanString = sinputString.Substring(startIndex, endIndex - startIndex);
string insertQuery = cleanString;
The system performs secure database insertion:
try
{
using (var connection = new SqlConnection(_connectionString))
{
connection.Open();
using (var command = new SqlCommand(insertQuery, connection))
{
command.CommandType = CommandType.Text;
var parameters = new Dictionary<string, object>
{
{ "@BankName", bankName },
{ "@Date", datex },
{ "@AccountNo", accountNo },
{ "@TransferAccountNo", transferAccountNo },
{ "@Amount", Math.Round(amountDecimal, 4) },
{ "@CompanyName", companyName },
{ "@AuthorizedPerson", authorizedPerson },
{ "@Description", description },
{ "@PaymentType", paymenttype }
};
foreach (var param in parameters)
{
command.Parameters.AddWithValue(param.Key, param.Value ?? DBNull.Value);
}
command.ExecuteNonQuery();
}
}
}
catch (SqlException ex)
{
// TODO: Add proper logging here (e.g., log to file or monitoring system)
throw new ApplicationException("An error occurred while inserting money transfer data.", ex);
}
Automated Fraud Detection and Pattern Recognition
AI identifies patterns that suggest fraud:
- Repeated high-value transfers to the same IBAN
- Transfers slightly below thresholds (e.g., €9,950)
- Suspicious descriptions like “gift” or “consulting”
These are color-coded in the output and logged for compliance audit.
<p style='color: orange;'>Potential fraud: Repeated transfer > €10,000</p>
Conclusion and Future Implications
This ten-part exploration shows how a combination of C#, SQL Server, and AI can modernize core banking workflows. From scanned image ingestion to regulatory validation and data storage, every step is automated, traceable, and secure. Such architectures not only serve compliance and efficiency but also provide a robust foundation for future innovation in financial systems.
The real power lies in extending this model to integrate risk scoring, multilingual support, machine learning classification of transaction types, and predictive compliance monitoring.