Methods and systems for carrying out directory-authenticated electronic transactions including contingency-dependent payments via secure electronic bank drafts

A computer-implemented method of securely carrying out an electronic transaction including a plurality of electronic drafts, a payment on at least one of the drafts being contingent upon removal of an associated contingency, the method comprising the steps of:

• establishing a secure computer site that is controlled by a trusted entity and that is accessible only by authenticated parties to the transaction and by any authenticated contingency approver, the site being configured to provide a representation of each of the plurality of drafts and an option to remove any contingencies associated therewith;
• authenticating parties and any contingency approver requesting access to the computer site by encrypting at least a portion of an identification information provided by the requesting party or contingency approver over a secure channel and successfully matching the encrypted identification information with a stored encrypted identifier, the stored encrypted identifier being unique to the requesting party or contingency approver, and
• releasing payment on a draft only when a drawer of the draft is authenticated and when the option to remove each contingency associated with the draft is timely exercised by an authenticated party or authenticated contingency remover that is authorized to remove the contingency.

A machine-readable medium having data stored thereon representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more computers coupled to a secure network, causes at least one of said computers to perform the steps of:

• establishing a secure computer site that is controlled by a bank and that is remotely accessible only by authenticated parties to the transaction and by any authenticated contingency approver over the secure network, the site including a representation of the transaction that includes a representation of each of the plurality of drafts and an option to remove any contingencies associated therewith;
• authenticating parties and any contingency approver requesting access to the computer site by encrypting at least a portion of an identification information provided by the requesting party or contingency approver over a secure channel and successfully matching the encrypted identification information with an encrypted identifier that is stored by a bank, the encrypted identifier being unique to the requesting party or contingency approver, and
• releasing payment on a draft of the transaction only when a drawer of the draft is authenticated and when the option to remove each contingency associated with the draft is timely exercised by an authenticated party or authenticated contingency remover that is authorized to remove the contingency.