Bahrain Cheque Truncation System

Manama, Bahrain - 25 June 2012 - The Bahrain Cheque Truncation System (BCTS), launched in May 2012 is a remarkable achievement in increasing efficiency and speed of the cheque clearing system in the Kingdom of Bahrain. BCTS facilitates bank customers to have their cheques cleared and obtain their funds on the same day; if presented to a bank on any business day (Sunday to Thursday). Customers who deposit their cheques before 11.30 a.m. on a normal business day can clear their checques free of charge by 3.00 p.m. on the same day.

The BCTS provides customers a more secure and convenient service. It provides reference documents for bank customers to follow-up the status of their cheques in the BCTS. When a customer deposits a cheque, a bank provides the customer with a deposit slip generated by the BCTS. This deposit slip indicates the time the cheque was deposited and its unique reference number. When a bank returns any unpaid cheque also, the customer receives a cheque return advice generated from the BCTS from his bank. This cheque return advice clarifies the reason for this return.

Mr. Ahmed Buhijji, Director of Banking Services Directorate of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) stated that the CBB is closely monitoring the operations of BCTS to ensure its expected efficiency and robustness is not compromised.

If you have any enquiries, please contact the Banking Services Directorate at the CBB on 17547757 or 17547751.