Eastern Caribbean Electronic ACH Payments Volume Is Growing

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eastern caribbeanElectronic payments have become increasingly popular with the US companies, taking over the place of paper checks. The Eastern Caribbean Region adopted the national automated clearing house  (ACH) standards for processing electronic payments in March of 2010. Earlier that year, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank upgraded its Real Time Gross Settlement System with the implementation of Straight Through Processing (STP), a key component of the payment system improvement project. The upgraded system allows for the electronic capturing and processing of financial transactions from the point of initiation to final settlement. The result of the upgrade is faster and more efficient transaction processing and settlement.

The banks, financial institutions and other companies use the electronic system to pay vendors, employees, and government organizations. The recent workshop held at Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) headquarters in St Kitts was hosted by the bank and VISA School of Public Policy. These initiatives are widely supported by the government that eastern-caribbean1sees electronics payments as an efficient way to process transactions. The minister of finance of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dr Timothy Harris recognized the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank hosting the workshop and educating the companies to develop financial sector of the region.  “To date, the Central Bank as part of its mandate has managed to ensure that the appropriate systems are in place to allow for the proper management and supervision of our payments systems,” he said. “With the introduction of timely upgrades, the ECCB has successfully maintained the real time gross settlement system that supports the electronic capturing and processing of financial transactions from the point of initiation to the final settlement. This has allowed our citizens and residents to benefit from faster and more efficient processing of their business and personal transactions while using our banking system.”

Mr Harris noted the role and contribution of ECCB in development of the financial services sector in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). The electronic payments were introduced in the mid 90-s but were not popular in the finance sector due to security issues and the time it took to arrange and process transactions. Now with new infrastructure and systems in place the rise of the electronic payments is obvious. They are efficient, convenient and fast. The cost of transaction for financial institutions has significantly reduced over the past few years and it will become even cheaper and more secure going forward.

CheckPlus ACH electronic payment module

Eastern caribbean CheckPlus Printech Global Secure Payment Solutions has been servicing banks, financial institutions and insurance companies in the Eastern Caribbean region for years with CheckPlusCFO software. Originally it helped organizations process check payments from multiple bank accounts, multiple companies using various currencies efficient and secure. With the electronic payments becoming more popular, the CheckPlus ACH electronic payment module has been implemented as an addition to check system. The companies can decide which payments will be made using paper check and which will be processed via electronic payment system. CheckPlusCFO software handles both check and ACH methods in one location, separating payments at the time of transaction processing. This allows the clients to process batches of payments once, using the same system. Printech’s software automates payment processing, reduces manual labor and allows companies to choose the best cost-effective methods to make payment.

Printech now offers a free web demo to showcase benefits of CheckPlusCFO. Schedule your demo today and improve the payment processing operations in your company.