The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) and Precise
Financial Systems (PFS) have joined forces to unveil a new National Automated
Clearing System (NACS), which allows all the Deposit Money Banks in the country
to clear cheques within hours, reports ITRealms.
The banks, ITRealms
gathered, have been test-running the infrastructure for 11 weeks and a total of
N5 trillion worth of cheques from 10
million transactions has been processed through the new platform.
At the post go-live session in Lagos with representatives of
the banks, Managing Director of NIBSS, Mr. Ade Shonubi, explained that the
institution had been on the project for over 18 months. He added that the
infrastructure would allow all the banks to achieve several payment and
non-payment transactions.
NIBSS’ boss said that as at today there are four clearing
sessions. According to him, the advantage of having multiple clearing sessions
was that the net amount against each bank is smaller so that risks are managed.
“With the new system, a cheque can be cleared within six
hours, four hour or at whatever duration we agree”, he said.
The Managing Director of PFS, the software firm behind NACS,
Dr. Yele Okeremi at the session said the process of clearing cheques in all
Nigerian banks has been simplified with the launch of NACS and that the
successful completion of the project has the door for more Nigerian firms to
take on more national challenges.
Okeremi commended the collaborative effort that exists
between NIBSS and PFS, saying that the partnership has given birth to the new
system that “allows bank customers to experience the benefits of shorter cheque
clearing cycles, as it reduces operational cost of the banks because the clearing
departments of the bank can work smarter and close earlier”.
Expatiating on the reasons for the innovation, he said NIBSS
needed a future proof system that would help the institution to realize its
vision of a faster and more efficient clearing system that would be less
resource intensive and accommodate various new requirements and practices in
the clearing system.
“NIBSS wanted a system that can be incorporated with the
Bank Verification Number [BVN]. They also wanted a situation where they would
have a session-less system that would always be online such that banks could
transmit their transactions as soon as they happen rather than a batch system
that opens up at specific times and closes after stipulated time frames”, he
said.
Chuks Egbune/GEE
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