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The Cheque and Credit Clearing Company Limited (C&CCC) is a UK membership-based industry body whose 11 members are the UK clearing
bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Beca ...
s. The company has managed the
cheque clearing Cheque clearing (or check clearing in American English) or bank clearance is the process of moving cash (or its equivalent) from the bank on which a cheque is drawn to the bank in which it was deposited, usually accompanied by the movement of the c ...
system in England and Wales since 1985, in all of Great Britain since 1996 when it took over responsibility for managing the Scottish cheque clearing as well, and in the whole of the United Kingdom since the introduction of the Image Clearing System in 2019. As well as clearing cheques, the system processes the following forms of payment: banker's drafts,
building society A building society is a financial institution owned by its members as a mutual organization. Building societies offer banking and related financial services, especially savings and mortgage lending. Building societies exist in the United Kingdo ...
cheques,
postal order A postal order or postal note is a type of money order usually intended for sending money through the mail. It is purchased at a post office and is payable at another post office to the named recipient. A fee for the service, known as poundage ...
s, warrants, government payable orders and
traveller's cheque A traveller's cheque is a medium of exchange that can be used in place of hard currency. They can be denominated in one of a number of major world currencies and are preprinted, fixed-amount cheques designed to allow the person signing it to ma ...
s. The company also manages the systems for the clearing of paper bank giro credits (the credit clearing). The clearing system in Northern Ireland was formerly operated by the Belfast Bankers' Clearing Company for the four clearing banks there.


History

In 2009 3.5 million cheques and 360,000 paper credits passed through the British interbank clearing system each working day. Cheque volumes reached a peak in 1990 when 4 billion cheques were written, but usage has fallen since then. This is mainly due to alternative methods of payment such as
direct debit A direct debit or direct withdrawal is a financial transaction in which one organisation withdraws funds from a payer's bank account., https://www.directdebit.co.uk/direct-debit-explained/what-is-direct-debit/ Formally, the organisation that calls f ...
s, BACS payments and more recently, the Faster Payments Service, being used more widely by individuals and businesses. The annual rate of decline of the volume of cheques being used is now in double figures.


Members

Members of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company are individually responsible for processing cheques drawn by, or credited to, the accounts of their customers. In addition, several hundred other institutions provide cheque facilities for their customers and obtain indirect access to the cheque clearing mechanisms by means of commercially negotiated agency arrangements with one of the full members. Members of the Image Clearing System, as of 2019, are: * Access Bank * Allied Irish Bank * Bank of Ireland * Barclays Bank * Clydesdale Bank * The Co-operative Bank * Habib Bank Zurich * HSBC UK * Lloyds Bank * Nationwide Building Society * National Westminster Bank * Northern Bank (trading as Danske Bank) * The Royal Bank of Scotland * Santander UK * TSB Bank * Turkish Bank * Virgin Money The members of the paper clearing, shut down in August 2019, were: *
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
*
Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by the ...
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Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

Clear Bank
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Clydesdale Bank Clydesdale Bank ( gd, Banca Dhail Chluaidh) is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in Scotland. In June 2018, it was announced that Clydesdale Bank's holding company CYBG would acquire Virgin Money f ...
*
The Co-operative Bank The Co-operative Bank plc is a retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom, with its headquarters in Balloon Street, Manchester. The Co-operative Bank is the only UK high street bank with a customer-led Ethical Policy which is incorporat ...
* HSBC Bank *
Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an ext ...
*
National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it ...
*
Nationwide Building Society Nationwide Building Society is a British mutual organisation, mutual financial institution, the seventh largest co-operative banking, cooperative financial institution and the largest building society in the world with over 16 million members. ...
*
The Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) ...
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Santander UK Santander UK plc (, ) is a British bank, wholly owned by the Spanish Santander Group. Santander UK plc manages its affairs autonomously, with its own local management team, responsible solely for its performance. Santander UK is one of the ...


2-4-6 changes to cheque clearing

From the end of November 2007, changes known as 2-4-6 came into force. These have increased clarity and certainty when paying in cheques to a bank or building society account. The 2-4-6 changes set a maximum time limit of two, four and six working days for each of the stages after paying in a cheque to a current or basic bank account. The timescales cover cheques, bankers' drafts, bankers' cheques and building society cheques paid into sterling current and basic bank accounts. For deposit or savings accounts the maximum time limit for withdrawal is longer (6 days, rather than 4). For the first time, after depositing a cheque, customers can be sure that at the end of six working days, the money is theirs. They are protected from any loss if the cheque subsequently bounces, unless they are a knowing party to a fraud. The timescales also set maximum times when customers start earning interest on money paid in (2 days) and when it will be available for withdrawal.


Merged into NPSO

Cheque and Credit Clearing Company Limited announced that on 1 July 2018 it had become a wholly owned subsidiary of NPSO Limited, the New Payments Systems Operator ( Pay.UK), and that the C&CCC board had handed management over to the board of NPSO.


See also

*
Clearing house (finance) A clearing house is a financial institution formed to facilitate the exchange (i.e., '' clearance'') of payments, securities, or derivatives transactions. The clearing house stands between two clearing firms (also known as member firms or partici ...
*
UK Payments Administration The UK Payments Administration Ltd (UKPA) is a United Kingdom service company that provides people, facilities and expertise to the UK payments industry. UKPA was created on 6 July 2009, as a successor of the Association for Payment Clearing Ser ...
*
Clearing House Automated Payment System Chaps ( or ) are sturdy coverings for the legs consisting of leggings and a belt. They are buckled on over trousers with the chaps' integrated belt, but unlike trousers, they have no seat (the term "assless chaps" is a Tautology (language), taut ...
(CHAPS) * Bankers Automated Clearing Services (BACS) * Payments Council * Faster Payments Service


References

{{reflist


External links


Cheque and Credit Clearing CompanyBritish Bankers' Association
''Understanding the cheque clearing cycle''

''The Cheque and Credit Clearing Company'' Financial services companies of the United Kingdom 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom Banking in the United Kingdom Financial services companies established in 1985 British companies established in 1985 Payment clearing systems