By James Anyanzwa
The much-awaited operationalisation of the cheque truncation project has been pushed forward by two more months, following low compliance rate with the electronically designed cheques.
The cheque Truncation System (CTS), which was initially scheduled to go live in June, is now expected to commence in August 15.
In a joint statement yesterday, the Central Bank of Kenya, and the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) said as at May 31, only 25 per cent of the cheques going through the Clearing House were CTS compliant, while the complete changeover to the new system and phasing out of the old cheques and clearing processes was pegged at 90 per cent compliance. They said the low compliance rate, which is attributed to cheque printing constraints in the country, has made it difficult for commercial banks to meet customers demand for the new generation chequebooks.
"Following consultation between the CBK, KBA, and the printing industry, it has been agreed that adequate stock of CTS compliant cheques will be available by mid July 2011.Consequently, the go-live date for Cheque Truncation has been pushed to August 15," read statement signed by CBK Governor Prof Njuguna Ndung’u, and KBA Chief Executive, Habil Olaka.
