AMMAN -- Jordan became the second country in the world, after Qatar, to adopt the electronic cheque clearing system.
Emanating from a partnership between the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) and ProgressSoft Corporation, which developed the solution, the new system will speed up the cashing of cheques at the country's banks.
The contract was signed late last year but the project was launched last week in a ceremony attended by CBJ officials and top executives from the private firm.
In his address at the event, CBJ Deputy Governor Faris Sharaf said the new system would reflect positively on the local businesses and the daily life of citizens.
At present, a cheque deposited by a bank customer in his/her account needs at least four working days to be cashed, but the electronic imaging of the cheques entailed in the new system allows immediate clearance. This means that the money is instantly transferred from the account of the issuer of the cheque and the payee.
A statement by ProgressSoft described the launch of the project as the start of a "distinctive new era of electronic payments and services."
The company said that the Electronic Image-Based Cheque Clearing Solution, dubbed PS-ECC, will be the backbone of the entire cheque clearing process in the Kingdom.
According to sources from the company, Jordanian banks have been engaged in a smooth transition from a manual to a fully automated cheque clearing process since the agreement was signed in December.
CBJ officials have been quoted as saying that this solution complies with the national payments system and has all the qualities that fulfil the cheque clearing with all currencies.
The system, they said, is expected to increase the volume of cheque payments and reduce cheque theft and fraud.
More than 700 branches of operating banks will benefit from this solution, where an estimation of 22,000 cheques are cleared manually each day with a total value that exceeds hundreds of millions of dinars, the officials said.
Mahmoud Al Abed
© Jordan Times 2005
