By James Anyanzwa
The Cheque Truncation System goes live in the next 18 days.
This will see old cheques replaced with new design cheques that are compliant with truncation system.
Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) Chief Executive, Habil Olaka, said 95 per cent of all cheque orders placed with the printers have been delivered to the banks.
The cheque Truncation System (CTS) was initially scheduled to go live in June, but was pushed forward to August 15 following low compliance rate. This was attributed to printing constraints, which made it difficult for commercial banks to meet demand for the new generation chequebooks.
The complete changeover to the new system, and phasing out of the old cheques and clearing processes, is pegged at 90 per cent compliance.
"We urge those customers who have not collected their new design cheques to do so and start using them," Olaka told a press briefing in Nairobi Thursday.
He said once the new system is operational, cheque processing would be completed in a much shorter period with both upcountry and local cheques clearing within three days.
"We shall subsequently bring down the cheque clearing duration from three days to two days, and eventually to one day," said Olaka.
The new clearing system is expected to phase out the cumbersome practice of physically transferring cheques from all bank branches using courier services, to the automated clearing house.
The system will also reduce paper work in banks thus reducing opportunities for fraud.
—Additional reporting by Rawlings Otieno
