Fast Cash

Mar 16, 2011 (LBO) - Customers of Sri Lankan banks will be able to get cash over-the-counter quicker from April 01, following technical upgrades to speed up processes, the island's central cheque clearing house said. LankaClear, Sri Lanka's central clearing house, already provides next day credit for cheques with the use of electronic clearing (cheque image and truncation) but funds usually come after 3.00 pm when bank counters are closed.

But Lanka Clear said data will now be provided to banks by 1.30 pm allowing them to process the information and credit customer accounts before counters close.

Customers were already able to draw money from teller machines the next day or write cheques against the expected credit as the T+1 clearing was in operation from 2006.

Lanka Clear has recently also upgraded their Sri Lanka interbank payment system (SLIPS) and promoted the service among users. Managers of initial public offers have also started to use SLIPS to make refunds.

In 2010, SLIPS transaction volumes have grown 18 percent, the clearing house said.