Commercial banks which take up to five working days to clear cheques are violating central bank rules in which the exercise is supposed to be completed within three days.
Bank of Tanzania Governor, Professor Benno Ndulu, has ordered the Director of Banking Supervision, Mr Agapiti Kobello, to conduct an investigation on the complaints.
“I have directed one of my colleagues to follow up on this and find out what has gone wrong,” Prof Ndullu told ‘Daily News’ at the weekend.
“After going through the clearing house, banks have two extra days to deposit money in their clients’ accounts according to regulations,” the Central Bank Chief noted saying commercial banks caught violating regulations will be penalised.
Director of Banking Supervision, Mr Kobello said he will make follow-ups to clients’ specific complaints and hold concerned banks accountable.
“I will appreciate if I can get customers specific cases of such delays so that I can directly contact the banks concerned,” said Mr Kobello who warned commercial banks to play by the rules.
He further noted that once banks have exchanged cheques at BoT’s clearing house, 48 hours is enough to have the money deposited in customer accounts.
“I am following up on this as the Governor has directed,” the BoT Director for Banking Supervision noted. Many customers have complained against delays in getting cash from closed checks deposited at banks.
“I received a closed cheque of National Bank of Commerce from my employer as annual leave payment on Monday January 5 which I deposited on the same day at my Exim Bank account along Nyerere road, it matured on Tuesday January 13, 2015,” said a client who preferred not to be identified.
In another case, a client deposited an Exim Bank cheque with CRDB on January 10 and it did not mature by last Friday, January 16. Bank managers blamed prolonged holidays as delaying the clearance exercise as the Central Bank is officially closed.
Originally published on DailyNews Tanzania
