BB extends deadline for automated clearing house
Saturday, 6 June 2009
FE Report
The central bank has extended the deadline for introduction of automated clearing house by three months in consideration of requests from many banks, officials said.
The Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH) will be launched from November 8 instead of August 3 this year, according to the revised scheduled.
Under the new system, payments will be settled using automated cheque clearing system and electronic fund transfer among 1050 bank branches in Dhaka initially, they added.
"We've extended the deadline after receiving requests from many banks, which are not yet prepared to issue Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) coded cheque books to their clients," Executive Director of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) Chowdhury Mohidul Haque told the FE Thursday.
Mr. Chowdhury, who is also the project director, said the central bank has also extended the time for completing all preparatory phases of launching the live BACPS by three months with a target to launch it in the first week of November this year.
"We're expecting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to inaugurate the country's first automated clearing house that would facilitate business activities through modernising the payment and settlement system," the executive director added.
He also said such payment and settlement system will help to build a Digital Bangladesh by 2021.
The central bank has issued a circular in this connection recently and asked the chief executives and managing directors of all commercial banks for taking necessary preparations in this connection.
"After implementation in Dhaka, the automated process will spread to the regional clearing houses including Bangladesh Bank offices in Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Bogra, Sylhet, Barisal and Rangpur respectively," the central bank said in its circular.
The commercial banks have been requested to take necessary preparations to issue MICR encoded checks in all regions and install hardware and software and establish connectivity within this timeframe, the circular added.
The BACH, the automated payment system platform, has two components -- Bangladesh Automated Cheque Processing Systems (BACPS) and Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network (BEFTN).
The present payment and settlement system in Bangladesh is not at par with the best international practices, which emphasises the need for safe and secured payment and settlement and the reduction of gap between payment and settlement, according to the BB's annual report for the fiscal 2007-08.
The central bank has extended the deadline for introduction of automated clearing house by three months in consideration of requests from many banks, officials said.
The Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH) will be launched from November 8 instead of August 3 this year, according to the revised scheduled.
Under the new system, payments will be settled using automated cheque clearing system and electronic fund transfer among 1050 bank branches in Dhaka initially, they added.
"We've extended the deadline after receiving requests from many banks, which are not yet prepared to issue Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) coded cheque books to their clients," Executive Director of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) Chowdhury Mohidul Haque told the FE Thursday.
Mr. Chowdhury, who is also the project director, said the central bank has also extended the time for completing all preparatory phases of launching the live BACPS by three months with a target to launch it in the first week of November this year.
"We're expecting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to inaugurate the country's first automated clearing house that would facilitate business activities through modernising the payment and settlement system," the executive director added.
He also said such payment and settlement system will help to build a Digital Bangladesh by 2021.
The central bank has issued a circular in this connection recently and asked the chief executives and managing directors of all commercial banks for taking necessary preparations in this connection.
"After implementation in Dhaka, the automated process will spread to the regional clearing houses including Bangladesh Bank offices in Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Bogra, Sylhet, Barisal and Rangpur respectively," the central bank said in its circular.
The commercial banks have been requested to take necessary preparations to issue MICR encoded checks in all regions and install hardware and software and establish connectivity within this timeframe, the circular added.
The BACH, the automated payment system platform, has two components -- Bangladesh Automated Cheque Processing Systems (BACPS) and Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network (BEFTN).
The present payment and settlement system in Bangladesh is not at par with the best international practices, which emphasises the need for safe and secured payment and settlement and the reduction of gap between payment and settlement, according to the BB's annual report for the fiscal 2007-08.