Cheque and Credit Clearing Company wins first prize for innovation

The Cheque and Credit Clearing Company (C&CCC) has received the Mitie Business Innovation Award for its successful project to improve the delivery of unpaid cheques back to respective banks and building societies, a key part of the cheque clearing process. The award was presented on November 4th 2008 to the C&CCC and TNT Financial Services at the 15th Annual Premises and Facilities Management (PFM) Awards Ceremony.

The project took 12 months, and to achieve it in such a short timescale required an unprecedented level of co-operation between the two partners, the settlement banks in GB and Northern Ireland and their agency banks. The project was vital to enable the banking industry to introduce guaranteed cheque clearing timescales, known as 2-4-6 and 2-6-6 last year. Although cheque volumes are declining, the investment for 2-4-6 and 2-6-6 was made by the banking industry to provide customers with real benefits: for the first time giving them certainty on cheque funds and setting out the maximum timescales they can expect to earn interest and when they can withdraw money from a cheque.  

Whilst it is rare for a cheque to bounce (only about 0.5% of the total cheques cleared in the UK are returned unpaid), it clearly has a real impact on the beneficiary. Previously, unpaid cheques were returned by post as First Class mail and the delivery of these cheques was sometimes uncertain. The new distribution service, that has created a single-sourced network, has tightened up delivery timescales providing a system where delivery is made by a specified time the following day.

The 2-4-6 changes came into effect at the end of November last year, but the implementation of the distribution service started in May 2007, to enable it to be tried and tested well in advance.

The PFM award for Business Innovation was accepted by Gordon Madgwick, the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company Operations Manager who said:

“We were thrilled to accept this award for innovation and are delighted that our partnership with TNT has resulted in the achievement of this prestigious industry award.  This system has proved to be a real success and it has played a fundamental role in allowing the banking institutions to deliver an improved service to customers.”

ENDS

For further information contact 020 7711 6251       E: press@apacs.org.uk