ICT firm to introduce MICR technology for bank cheques
Thursday, 16 August 2007
Raihan M Chowdhury
Technomedia Ltd, a leading Information and Communication Technology (ICT) company, is working to introduce the MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) technology to help commercial banks in clearing and processing of cheques.
The company has been engaged by the Bangladesh Bank to develop the technology for the commercial banks under a project, which is expected to be introduced from March next year.
All scheduled banks will include the MICR code in their cheques as per Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH) compliance requirement to end forgery in the paper-based payment transfer system.
The MICR is the common machine language specification for the paper-based payment transfer system. It consists of magnetic ink printed characters of a special design, which can be recognised by high speed magnetic recognition equipment.
"We held a seminar on the MICR technology for bank cheque clearing in the city Sunday last where representatives from 49 commercial banks were present," managing director of Technomedia, Joshoda Jibon Deb Nath told the FE Tuesday.
Cheque standardisation, the MICR encode, and size and measurement are the basic components of BACH.
Donor-funded BACH will be established at a cost of $ 16 million.
Technomedia Ltd has been working since 2005 as Bangladesh representative of the US-based NCR (national cash register).
"The latest MICR technology, once implemented will help the central bank carry out clearing and processing activities very quickly to save a lot of time and also to end difficulties of millions of depositors of the country,"
Joshoda said.
He said since 1999, Technomedia has been providing system integration and consultancy services to both private and government entities.
" During the last few years, IT infrastructure has thrived in all sectors, both government and non-government, and we are proud to be involved in the automation jobs of 19 local and foreign commercial banks in the country," Joshoda said.
The existing clients of Technomedia include Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank NA, HSBC, Bank Al Falah, Commercial Bank of Ceylon, State Bank of India, BRAC Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd, Dhaka Bank, National Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, Prime Bank, Eastern Bank, City Bank, One Bank, Exim Bank and some state-owned business entities.
The clients are getting VISA/Master cards, cheques, ATM consumables, data cartridges, ink/toner cartridges, security papers and forms, PIN mailer etc., from Technomedia Ltd.
The Technomedia Ltd chief executive said once completed, the MICR technology will bring the Bangladesh banking system at par with the global standard.
The MICR was first demonstrated to the American Bankers Association in July, 1956 and was almost universally applied by 1963.
"We are still lagging behind our neighbouring countries as far as the MICR is concerned and it is our crying need to make headway in this regard," the Technomedia chief asserted.
Technomedia Ltd, a leading Information and Communication Technology (ICT) company, is working to introduce the MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) technology to help commercial banks in clearing and processing of cheques.
The company has been engaged by the Bangladesh Bank to develop the technology for the commercial banks under a project, which is expected to be introduced from March next year.
All scheduled banks will include the MICR code in their cheques as per Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH) compliance requirement to end forgery in the paper-based payment transfer system.
The MICR is the common machine language specification for the paper-based payment transfer system. It consists of magnetic ink printed characters of a special design, which can be recognised by high speed magnetic recognition equipment.
"We held a seminar on the MICR technology for bank cheque clearing in the city Sunday last where representatives from 49 commercial banks were present," managing director of Technomedia, Joshoda Jibon Deb Nath told the FE Tuesday.
Cheque standardisation, the MICR encode, and size and measurement are the basic components of BACH.
Donor-funded BACH will be established at a cost of $ 16 million.
Technomedia Ltd has been working since 2005 as Bangladesh representative of the US-based NCR (national cash register).
"The latest MICR technology, once implemented will help the central bank carry out clearing and processing activities very quickly to save a lot of time and also to end difficulties of millions of depositors of the country,"
Joshoda said.
He said since 1999, Technomedia has been providing system integration and consultancy services to both private and government entities.
" During the last few years, IT infrastructure has thrived in all sectors, both government and non-government, and we are proud to be involved in the automation jobs of 19 local and foreign commercial banks in the country," Joshoda said.
The existing clients of Technomedia include Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank NA, HSBC, Bank Al Falah, Commercial Bank of Ceylon, State Bank of India, BRAC Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd, Dhaka Bank, National Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, Prime Bank, Eastern Bank, City Bank, One Bank, Exim Bank and some state-owned business entities.
The clients are getting VISA/Master cards, cheques, ATM consumables, data cartridges, ink/toner cartridges, security papers and forms, PIN mailer etc., from Technomedia Ltd.
The Technomedia Ltd chief executive said once completed, the MICR technology will bring the Bangladesh banking system at par with the global standard.
The MICR was first demonstrated to the American Bankers Association in July, 1956 and was almost universally applied by 1963.
"We are still lagging behind our neighbouring countries as far as the MICR is concerned and it is our crying need to make headway in this regard," the Technomedia chief asserted.