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Banks establish local clearing solutions |
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Written by Staff Reporters
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Last week marked a proud moment for the Banker’s Association of Namibia (BAN) as it unveiled Namclear, a local clearing house for Namibian banks to clear electronic, card and cheque payments in the country. The cheque-processing solution, under the auspices of Namclear, is a cooperative venture between five Namibian-based banks, namely: Bank of Namibia, Bank Windhoek, First National Bank, Nedbank and Standard Bank.
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| Erastus Hoveka, Managing Director of Nedbank, Paul Hartmann, Deputy Governor: Bank of Namibia, James Hill, Managing Director of Bank Windhoek and President of the Bankers Association of Namibia, and Brian Le Sar, Board Director of Namclear, celebrating the launch of the clearing house in Windhoek. |
As an independent and sovereign state, Namibia envisions
to start managing and controlling its own domestic exposure and risks
within the financial sector. Through the National Payment System Reform
project, launched in 2001, Namibian commercial banks identified key
objectives of this reform project to include the disconnect of
inter-bank transactions from the South African National Payment System
and to clear and settle them locally. The four commercial banks, in
conjunction with the Bank of Namibia, embarked upon a project to
establish a Namibian clearing house in 2003. As a result of this
vision, Namclear PTY Ltd was established.
Paul Hartmann, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Namibia, said: “The
National Payment System Reform project is being driven by the entire
banking industry and led by the Bank of Namibia as overseer of payment
systems. The Bank of Namibia and the Bankers Association of Namibia
have agreed that the Bank would spearhead the settlement leg of the
project, while banking institutions would assume responsibility for
seeking appropriate solutions for local payment and clearing
arrangements”.
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