NATTA has been working on how to make the BSP payment method faster and easier for the IATA accredited members. In the same context, NATTA delegation met with Mr. Neelesh Man Singh Pradhan, CEO of Nepal Clearing House Ltd on June 24.. The outcome of the meeting was very fruitful and informative.
Nepal Clearing House Ltd (NCHL) has been established with an objective of automating the process of cheque clearing which was earlier being done manually through NRB. With the introduction of NCHL-ECC (electronic cheque clearing) system, the cheque clearing cycle has become much faster. All cheques are cleared and settled on the same day by 3:30 p.m. provided they are presented before the cut off time of 11 a.m. Cheque presented after the cut off time are cleared and settled only the following day.
Moreover, in order to provide faster cheque clearance, there is an additional facility of “Express Session” at a minimal charge at all commercial banks. Express Session is a special session of short duration for presentment, response from paying bank and NRB settlement. Express session has 1 hour of window open for cheque presentment and, settlement happens at 12:00 AM. Regular Session is one full day clearing cycle where by the settlement happens at 3:30 PM. For example, if we request for Express Session on Friday with cheque submission by 10:30 – 11:00 a.m., thecheque will be cleared by an hour at 12 noon. Therefore, we do not have to wait till Sunday for NPR cheque and till Monday for USD cheque to be cleared. The services and facilities on cheque clearance both on NPR and USD account are the same.
By 2015 NCHL will make it compulsory for all banks & financial institutions to introduce Machine Readable Cheque (MRC) and also at the same time NCHL has requested Nepal Rastra Bank to increase the frequency of cheque clearance/settlement.
