Regulatory Alerts2016-10-25
Banking Circular No 3 of 2014 - Opening of EAPS Rwandese Francs Accounts
On 9th June 2014, the Central Bank of Kenya issued a banking circular requesting all commercial banks to open Rwandese Francs Clearing Accounts in their institution. This was done as a follow-up action after Rwanda completed the User Acceptance Testing phase and was ready to join the East African Payment System (EAPS) in the live environment. The EAPS, launched on 16th May 2014 by the Central Bank Governors of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda, enables cross-border interbank payments among these countries. To enable commercial banks to participate in this system for Rwandese Francs transactions, they were asked to open a dedicated EAPS account for Rwandese Francs with the Central Bank of Kenya by 18th June 2014. The request should be made via a letter signed by two authorized signatories and followed by submission of mandate application forms as per guidelines. Once these conditions were fulfilled, the Central Bank of Kenya would send an acknowledgement confirming their participation in the EAPS system for Rwandese Francs transactions upon successful fulfillment of the above conditions. Any queries or clarifications could be addressed to Corazon Kamaan or Monica Oraro via email or phone.