Abu Dhabi: The UAE Central Bank has announced same day cheque clearance for all banks in the UAE, starting from 14 November.
According to an apex bank release, cheques deposited at banks before 10:00 am will be cleared at 5:00 pm on the same business day. Cheques deposited after 10:00 am will be cleared the following business day.
And if you really need to clear you cheques in a few hours, even that will be possible in near future, at an extra cost. The Central Bank is expected to launch a chargeable "Express Clearing" facility soon, which will enable cheques to be cleared in two hours – the details of which are awaited.
The current directive making mandatory clearance of cheques on the same business day is expected to benefit bank customers throughout the UAE.
ICCS: Fast and secure service
UAE banks have been using Image Cheque Clearing System (ICCS) since July 2008 and this practise has brought consistency to the time taken to clear cheques across the UAE. At the moment, the system processes an average of 100,000 cheques daily.
The "ICCS" system processes the electronic details of the cheque and send these details on for authorisation by the issuing bank within seconds of being received into the said Central Bank's system. The "ICCS" uses secured electronic cheque images not the physical cheques themselves. This means that banks scan deposited cheques at the branch level all over the UAE, and send images to the Central Bank's system, either directly or through their Head Office. Physical cheques will stay with the banking system.
The Central Bank has also urged banks to implement electronics messaging channels to inform customers when cheques are cleared successfully or returned. For instance, if a cheque presented to "ICCS" is returned by the issuing bank, the presenting bank should inform their customer as soon as possible through electronic channels such as SMS.
