An interoperable clearing system between all banks is necessary to enable quick (same day) processing and settlement of cheques deposited by customers where the cheques may or may not be drawn on the bank in which they are deposited. Creating electronic images of all paper reduces physical handling requirements and adds efficiencies to the process.
This electronic cheque clearing facility receives and validates cheque code line data from collecting banks and forwards settlement information to the homing banks’ treasury departments and the Central Bank. Later on, during the same day, physical cheques are matched with electronic data and dispatched to the respective homing banks. An image repository facilitates quick query resolution.
Risk is managed and data recovery is assured through a parallel real-time process at BankservAfrica’s remotely located DRP site. BankservAfrica’s management information service (MIS) tracks the process and provides a variety of critical industry and individual bank reports.
Validation: Validations are performed in preparation for transferring STP compliant transactions to the participating banks. The validation is rules based and parameter driven. This is continuously amended according to equipment and risk profiles.
Sorting: Utilising NDP 600 reader sorter machines which are fully image enabled and MICR compliant.
Risk management disaster recovery: Parallel processing takes place to our DR site which is a fully equipped CLC operational environment.
Settlement interface: Settlements are performed once daily, with CLC being a full payment stream with its own settlement.
Settlement interface end-of-day settlement: Daily settlement figures are provided to the SARB who pass the necessary debit and credit entries to the banks’ treasury accounts.