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2012-05-25

Notice No. 24/2012 of May 25

The Bank of Angola mandates the use of standardized checks in its interbank payment system, establishing their technical specifications, a mandatory validity period between six and twenty-four months, and exclusive acceptance for clearing. The Notice requires issuing financial institutions to comply with defined security, storage, and transport controls while reserving the maximum issuance value for future regulation. It further stipulates that violations are punishable under existing financial institutions law, revokes specific prior provisions, and enters into force one hundred and eighty days after publication.

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Banco Nacional de Angola

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NOTICE NO. 24/2012 of May 25

CONSIDERING the need to modernize the check clearing system, safeguarding the public interest objectives defined in Law No. 05/05 of July 29 and aiming to modernize and develop Angola's Payment System; CONSIDERING that modern check clearing systems based on image processing require the definition of adapted check forms for this purpose; IN ACCORDANCE with the combined provisions of Article 7 of Law No. 5/05 of July 29 - Payment System Law, and Article 51 of Law No. 16/10 of July 15 - Bank of Angola Law; IT IS DETERMINED:

Article 1 Object

  1. This Notice establishes the principles of use and the models of standardized checks to be used in Angola's Payment System.
  2. For the purposes of this Notice, standardized checks are those that comply with the technical specifications defined in a Bank of Angola Instruction.

Article 2 Validity Period

  1. All standardized checks have a validity period, determined by their respective expiration date, indicated in the manner to be defined in the technical specifications provided for in Article 1.

CONTINUATION OF NOTICE NO. 24/2012 2. The expiration date is the date until which, inclusive, the check may be presented for payment to the drawn banking financial institution or deposited in another participating banking financial institution of the interbank clearing system. 3. The expiration date may not be less than six (6) months, nor more than twenty-four (24) months, counted from the date of personalization of the check form. 4. Personalization of the check form consists of including in it the drawer's identification data. 5. If the expiration date is not a business day, the following business day shall be considered the expiration date.

Article 3 Production and Storage of Forms The production, storage, and transport of check forms are subject to security requirements and control mechanisms to be defined in specific regulation.

Article 4 Maximum Issuance Value The maximum value for issuing a standardized check shall be defined in specific regulation.

Article 5 Clearing

  1. Only standardized checks are accepted in the interbank clearing system.
  2. All banking financial institutions issuing standardized checks are participants in the interbank check clearing system.

CONTINUATION OF NOTICE NO. 24/2012 Article 6 Sanctions Violations of this Notice are punishable in accordance with Law No. 13/05 of September 30 - Financial Institutions Law.

Article 7 Revocation Articles 3, paragraph 2 of Article 4, and Annex I of Notice No. 03/04 of June 23 are hereby revoked.

Article 8 Entry into Force This Notice enters into force one hundred and eighty (180) days after its publication date.

PUBLISHED Luanda, May 25, 2012 The GOVERNOR JOSÉ DE LIMA MASSANO

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