Business News of Saturday, 27 February 2010

Source: GNA

New cheque clearing system is best - HFM Manager

Accra, Feb. 27, GNA - Organisations, clients and customers, have been urged to make use of the recently introduced electronic Cheque Codeline Clearing System (CCCS) to inject speed into business transactions. Ms Elizabeth .A. Nyarko, Branch Manager of the HFC Bank Limited told the Ghana News Agency on Saturday that the clearing system is a technological service introduced to modernize the financial sector and to inject efficiency in investments.

The CCCS, introduced by the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhiPPS) of the Bank of Ghana, enables cheques to be cleared within two working days. It began operation in January 2009 on a pilot basis. Ms Nyarko said the clearing system was safer and faster and appealed to customers to ensure they had enough funds to cover the cheques they issued to meet the purpose for which the system was designed. She expressed the hope that CCCS would absorb the current manual paper credit clearing system, make economic activities more vibrant and encourage people to save.

Ms Nyarko said HFC Bank is CCCS compliant adding that the bank had adopted an open door policy as part of its commitment towards quality service delivery.

Ms. Nyarko said HFC Bank had different financial products with attractive investment components that were unique in the Ghanaian banking industry.

She said though HFC had transformed from the Home Financial Company to a bank, the core business of the bank remained that of providing mortgage services to clients with subsidiary financial services in areas including microfinance, especially in the informal sector of the economy.