Automated fulfilling of currency exchange requests over a computer network

A non-transitory, tangible computer program product for automatically fulfilling a currency exchange request received at a processor from a particular customer, the processor receiving currency exchange requests for a plurality of different currencies from a plurality of different customers, each request being (i) a request to exchange an amount of funds of a source currency for funds of a target currency, or (ii) a request to receive an amount of funds of a target currency by exchanging source currency, the automated fulfilling being performed via the processor, the computer program product comprising computer-readable media encoded with instructions for execution by the processor to perform a method comprising:

• (a) providing in a memory of the processor a currency exchange rate for the plurality of different currencies that may be exchanged;
• (b) updating the currency exchange rates in the memory at the end of each of a succession of predetermined time periods;
• (c) receiving at the processor the currency exchange request from the particular customer;
• and
• (d) fulfilling, using the processor, the currency exchange request received at the processor from the particular customer by:
• (i) automatically matching the request of the particular customer with requests of one or more other customers who have requested an exchange of the converse target and source currencies in an amount of currency sufficient to match a first portion of the request of the particular customer using the currency exchange rates in the memory of the processor, and
• (ii) using amounts of currency in different currency types that are not received from the customers to fulfill a second portion of the request of the particular customer using the currency exchange rates in the memory of the processor,
• wherein step (d)(ii) is performed at the end of each of the predetermined time periods, and
• wherein the currency exchange request is always guaranteed to be fulfilled, and is actually fulfilled, at the same currency exchange rate that exists in the memory of the processor when the currency exchange request is received at the processor, and thereby during each predetermined time period, all customers who make the same currency pair request to (i) exchange an amount of funds of a source currency for funds of a target currency, or (ii) receive an amount of funds of a target currency by exchanging source currency, receive the same currency exchange rate.

A non-transitory, tangible computer program product for automatically fulfilling a currency exchange request received at a processor from a particular customer, the processor receiving currency exchange requests for a plurality of different currencies from a plurality of different customers, each request being (i) a request to exchange an amount of funds of a source currency for funds of a target currency, or (ii) a request to receive an amount of funds of a target currency by exchanging source currency, the automatic fulfilling being performed via the processor, the computer program product comprising computer-readable media encoded with instructions for execution by the processor to perform a method comprising:

• (a) providing in a memory of the processor a currency exchange rate for the plurality of different currencies that may be exchanged;
• (b) updating the currency exchange rates in the memory at the end of each of a succession of predetermined time periods;
• (c) receiving at the processor the currency exchange request from the particular customer to be filled at an exchange rate in the memory;
• and
• (d) fulfilling, using the processor, the currency exchange request received at the processor from the particular customer by:
• (i) automatically matching the request of the particular customer with requests of one or more other customers who have requested an exchange of the converse target and source currencies using the currency exchange rates in the memory of the processor, and
• (ii) determining that no match can be made in step (d)(i) and then using amounts of currency in different currency types that are not received from the customers to fulfill the request of the particular customer when no match can be made in step (d)(i) using the currency exchange rates in the memory of the processor,
• wherein step (d)(ii) is performed at the end of each of the predetermined time periods, and
• wherein the currency exchange request is always guaranteed to be fulfilled, and is actually fulfilled, at the same currency exchange rate that exists in the memory of the processor when the currency exchange request is received at the processor, and thereby during each predetermined time period, all customers who make the same currency pair request to (i) exchange an amount of funds of a source currency for funds of a target currency, or (ii) receive an amount of funds of a target currency by exchanging source currency, receive the same currency exchange rate.