The new National Payment System’s Automated Clearing House (ACH) is now live, which means bank customers are able to carry out instant interbank transactions up to a specified limit.
These transactions can be carried out between one bank to another, 24 hours a day and seven days a week; and applicable for those banks that had implemented straight-through processing in its own environment.
The Reserve Bank of Fiji announced the go live of the ACH this week, marking the culmination of the banking industry and the central bank’s collective efforts over the last three years to digitally transform Fiji’s payment system, and increase efficiency to support the domestic economy.
RBF governor Ariff Ali says the ACH is the second of two major components introduced – the first being the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), and the Central Securities Depository launched in November last year.
Mr Aki said businesses were expected to see efficiencies in operations attributed to reduced cash handling costs, increased speed of operations, quicker and improved payment processing because of interoperability between the banks and the implementation of straight-through processing.
He said the system would form the pipeline for channeling approximately $200billion worth of transactions annually.
“Increased interoperability is fundamental to driving payments efficiency. We saw a dramatic increase in transactions with the launch of the upgraded RTGS and anticipate this to grow even further within the first few months after this go live,” Mr Ali said in a statement.
“This improved infrastructure will help bolster business and retail transactions since it has the potential to handle increased volumes of digital payments seamlessly.”
Westpac chief executive Shane Smith said the second phase of the NPS project provided an exciting opportunity for banks and customers to see the effects of having a payment system that provided fast and efficient exchange of funds within a reasonable timeframe.
BSP Country Head and current Association of Banks (ABIF) in Fiji Chairman Haroon Ali said all Fijians would enjoy the wide-ranging benefits of the ACH facility.
“Some significant advantages it delivers include the immediate availability and readiness of funds for transactions between customers, irrespective of whether these occur within or outside standard business hours. For instance, individuals can promptly access their wages/salaries, and utilise them on the same day. Similarly, small businesses can expect improved cash flow management with the elimination of processing delays,” Mr Ali said.
Mr Ali said the RBF, with the assistance of its development partner – International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, had consulted and collaborated extensively with the ABIF and Montran Corporation, the vendors of the system, on the business processes, technology and infrastructure to enable a successful go live.
