Electronic Payments Network - EPN

Your rich uncle was kidnapped by a rogue team of disgruntled third-world revolutionaries. You're in charge of paying the ransom. They want $10,000 immediately. They don't want cash. They won't take a check. Instead, they demand a wire transfer.

They send you a bank account number and tell you to wire the money as soon as possible. You use the online portal...type in the bank account info and the amount. Boom...the money transfers from your account to theirs. (Hopefully, they free your uncle now. In retrospect, you should have asked for some proof of life.)

The wire transfer process takes place over the Electronic Payment Network, or EPN. It's a clearing house system that facilitates electronic fund transfers, like the one that (presumably) saved your uncle's life.