Remaining 18,000 odd bank branches to come under CTS by September

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By Ashish Mitra --
Friday, 05 Feb, 2021

As part of further improving, speeding up and fool-proofing the payments and settlement systems, the Reserve Bank has said that all the 18,000-odd branches which are outside the centralised clearing system called cheque truncation system will come under it by September.

The cheque truncation system (CTS) that is in use since 2010 covers around 1,50,000 bank branches across three cheque processing grids. All the erstwhile 1,219 non-CTS clearing houses have since been migrated to the CTS now.

Since around 18,000 more branches are still outside any formal clearing arrangement, to bring in operational efficiency in paper-based clearing and make the process of collection and settlement of cheques faster resulting in better customer service, it is proposed to bring all such branches under CTS by September, RBI said in a statement. Separate operational guidelines will be issued within a month, it added.

The central bank also said that it will set up a 24×7 helpline for digital payments services to secure them more against fraud and phishing. The RBI’s payment systems vision document envisages setting up a 24×7 helpline for addressing customer queries in respect of various digital payments, which, apart from building trust and confidence, will also reduce expenditure on both financial and human resources.

Various authorised payment systems activities are outsourced to optimise efficiency and lower costs. But this also increases system vulnerabilities posing cyber security risks.

Towards better consumer protection measures, the RBI said it will integrate the three ombudsman scheme– the banking ombudsman scheme; the ombudsman scheme for NBFCs; and the ombudsman scheme for digital transactions in operation from 22 ombudsman offices of the RBI.

Remaining 18,000 odd bank branches to come under CTS by September. As part of further improving, speeding up and fool-proofing the payments and settlement systems, the Reserve Bank has said that all the 18,000-odd branches which are outside the centralised clearing system called cheque truncation system will come under it by September.

The cheque truncation system (CTS) that is in use since 2010 covers around 1,50,000 bank branches across three cheque processing grids. All the erstwhile 1,219 non-CTS clearing houses have since been migrated to the CTS now.

Since around 18,000 more branches are still outside any formal clearing arrangement, to bring in operational efficiency in paper-based clearing and make the process of collection and settlement of cheques faster resulting in better customer service, it is proposed to bring all such branches under CTS by September, RBI said in a statement. Separate operational guidelines will be issued within a month, it added.

The central bank also said that it will set up a 24×7 helpline for digital payments services to secure them more against fraud and phishing. The RBI’s payment systems vision document envisages setting up a 24×7 helpline for addressing customer queries in respect of various digital payments, which, apart from building trust and confidence, will also reduce expenditure on both financial and human resources.

Various authorised payment systems activities are outsourced to optimise efficiency and lower costs. But this also increases system vulnerabilities posing cyber security risks.

Towards better consumer protection measures, the RBI said it will integrate the three ombudsman scheme– the banking ombudsman scheme; the ombudsman scheme for NBFCs; and the ombudsman scheme for digital transactions in operation from 22 ombudsman offices of the RBI.