Check clearing gets faster
Starting tomorrow, the processing time for checks up to R$ 299,99 will be two business days at banks; for checks over R$ 300, one business day.
Agência Brasil – Starting tomorrow (19), the deadline for clearing checks with a value less than R$ 299,99 will be two business days, informed the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban). For checks above R$ 300, the deadline will be one business day. Previously, the deadlines were four and two days, respectively.
According to Febraban, in both cases, the shorter timeframe will apply throughout the country, eliminating regional differences. In hard-to-reach locations, checks could previously take up to 20 business days to clear.
The shorter processing time for settlements was anticipated since May 20th, when banks began operating Digital Image Settlement. The project was initiated by Febraban in 2009.
According to Febraban (Brazilian Federation of Banks), in addition to unifying clearing across the country, another important advantage of Digital Image Clearing is security. "By eliminating the physical journey of the check, the possibility of cloning, misplacement, loss, and theft is reduced," the federation states in a note. Febraban expects to reduce "the cloning and counterfeiting of checks, which in 2010 caused an estimated loss of R$ 1,2 billion for commerce and R$ 283 million for banks."
"From an environmental standpoint, the benefit is also significant, as it contributes to a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions into the atmosphere," adds Febraban.
In the image-based clearing process, the bank captures the check information via barcode and an image of the check. Then, it sends the information and the scanned check to the Banco do Brasil (BB) Clearing House, which processes the file and forwards it to the originating bank, which retains the physical check.