The Dar es salaam Electronic Clearing House (DECH)
- Introduction
Dar es Salaam Electronic House (DECH)
was introduced in the year 2002 to handle cheque clearing for member banks.
The process of clearing payment
instruments is one of the requirements of a well functioning banking system. It
involves the collection and crediting or debiting of proceeds or claims to
customers’ accounts. The instruments received for collection could be drawn on
banks’ own branches or on branches of other banks. However, the procedures for
clearance of payment instruments vary depending on the source on which the
instruments have been drawn on.
For instance, when the instrument is
drawn on account maintained at another branch of the same bank, it has to be
sent to the paying branch for payment, and an adjustment of funds takes place
through inter-branch accounts.
If the instrument is drawn on another
bank’s branch, then clearance has to take place through a Clearing House. The
Clearing House is a place where representatives of member banks meet at
specified times, to exchange instruments and determine the net balances against
each other.
- Location
The DECH is temporarily accommodated on
the 1st floor of the Bank of Tanzania main building along 10 Mirambo Street
awaiting take over by members through the Tanzania Bankers Association. Other
Clearing centers are available at Bank of Tanzania branches namely Arusha,
Mwanza, Zanzibar and Mbeya.
- Membership
Membership is open to any licensed bank
to operate in Tanzania, which in the opinion of members is eligible for
membership and agrees to the regulations and rules governing the operations of
the Clearing House.
A licensed commercial bank that wishes
to join the DECH has to submit a dully-filled in application form “Form 100”
to the Chairman of Committee of Management.
Form 100 can be obtained from Banking
Department or down loaded from the Banks web page: http://www.bot-tz.org/Banking/bankingOperations.asp
OR http://www.bot-tz.org/PaymentSystem/PaymentSystem.asp
During the period between 1995 – November 2008 DECH expanded its membership from 5 to 27, namely:
Bank of Tanzania CRDB Bank Limited Peoples’ Bank of Zanzibar Limited Standard Chartered Bank (Tanzania)Limited Stanbic Bank (Tanzania) Limited Citibank (Tanzania) Limited Bank of Africa Tanzania Limited Diamond Trust Bank (Tanzania) Limited Akiba Commercial Bank (Tanzania)Limited Exim Bank (Tanzania) Limited NBC Limited National Microfinance Bank Limited Kenya Commercial Bank (Tanzania) Limited Habib African Bank (Tanzania) Limited International Commercial Bank (Tanzania) Limited Barclays Bank (Tanzania) Limited CF Union Bank Limited Commercial Bank of Africa Dar es Salaam Community Bank Limited FBME Limited Savings & Finance Bank Limited Bank of Baroda Limited Azania Bancorp Limited -
Bank M. (Tanzania) Limited
-
Access Bank (Tanzania) Limited
-
African Banking Corporation
-
Bank of India
- Conduct of Business in the DECH
4.1. Submission of clearing instruments and files
Procedures involved in the submission of
clearing instruments and files through the DECH are governed by rules and
regulations of EFT and DECH.
4.2. Clearing Times
There are two sessions on every business
day from Monday to Friday.
The first session commences from 9.00
a.m. to 10.30 a.m. whereby provisional settlement positions are determined.
The second session commences from 1.00
p.m. to 2.00 p.m. whereby final settlement positions are determined.
- Administrative Body/Structure
5.1. Administration
The Committee of Management, Technical
Committee and Displinary Committee administer the operations of DECH.
5.2. Supervision of DECH
The day to day business of DECH is
conducted under the supervision of DECH Supervisor and Assistant Supervisor.
Bank of Tanzania appoints the Supervisor. The Assistant Supervisor is appointed
by DECH Technical Committee from one of member banks on rotational basis of two
months tenure.
- Objective
To make arrangements for speedy,
efficient and safety way of executing settlement of payment instruments payable
or deliverable at or through offices of member banks.
- Achievements
DECH has facilitated:
Efficient processing of cheques,
Electronic Journals (EJs), and settlement files in BOTECH system. Introduction of Net Settlement
Gateway (NSG) system that consolidates Electronic Journals (EJ), Electronic
Funds Transfer (EFT) and Settlement files from all clearing centers into
individual member banks’ Net Settlement Positions. mprovement in speed of execution of
settlements whereby Net Settlement positions from regional clearing centers
are received electronically through Funds Transfer Protocol (FTP) program,
consolidated with Head office positions and posted electronically to banks
clearing accounts in TISS and CBS for TISS participants and non TISS
participants respectively. Adoption of Settlement Agency on
behalf of VISA member banks for settling transactions arising from use of
VISA cards locally, at Automated Tellering Machines (ATMs) and Point of
Sales (POS).
- Contacts
Physical Location:
Offices of the Banking Department
are located on the 1st floor of the Bank of Tanzania Building along 10 Mirambo
Street.
Postal Address
10 Mirambo Street
P.O. Box 2939
Dar Es
Salaam
Telephone
+255 22 2110750
E-mail address
Mrs. Edda Balele,
Deputy Director, Banking
DDBG@hq.bot-tz.org
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