Regulatory Alerts2010-01-29 | BOD/PSV2020/OPS/144ADraft Nigeria Bankers' Clearing House Rules
The Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) is a financial institution that facilitates the clearing and settlement of bank cheques among its member banks in Nigeria. Here's a summary of the rules for operating an account with NIBSS, specifically focusing on the Cheque Truncation System (CTS). 1. The use of CTS ensures faster processing and reconciliation time by eliminating the physical movement of paper cheques between branches of different banks. 2. Each bank is assigned a unique code called "Sort Code," which is used for identification purposes in the electronic clearing process. 3. Each item presented through CTS must have a specific Item Sequence Number (ISN), which helps trace returned and unpaid items. 4. All paper items are encoded according to NACS standards, including transaction/sort codes. 5. The Items Sequence Numbers (ISNs) assigned to each item ensures its uniqueness within the same day. 6. A "deadline" for submitting clearing files is set at 8:00 AM and 2:00 PM, respectively. 7. Clearing data files must be delivered to the Zonal Clearing House (ZCH) by presenting banks. These files are then downloaded by PBCCs for further processing and verification. 8. If a PBCC cannot receive clearing data files on time, it must notify the Clearing House Manager immediately. 9. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will have remote access to the ZCH for enquiries and downloading relevant data items as required. 10. The final net settlement positions of banks will be electronically made available to the CBN to ensure settlement finality.