About the National Clearing System
Today, a customer at one bank is able to transfer funds
between banks quickly, securely and a low cost, anywhere in
Indonesia. This became possible after Bank Indonesia
launched the National Clearing System to replace the local
clearing systems provided by 105 clearing operators. In the
initial launch, the Bank Indonesia National Clearing System
(SKNBI) commenced operation in the Jakarta area on 29 July
2005.
Before the SKNBI, if a bank customer wanted to transfer
funds to another bank in a different region or outside the
local clearing area, the transfer would take considerable
time and incur high bank charges. Why was this? Bank staff
would have to process the funds transfers to different local
clearing areas in other regions operating with different
mechanisms. “The differences in local clearing mechanisms
inevitably resulted in added processing time and higher
costs.”
Moreover, the multilateral netting clearing system in
operation between local clearing areas carried risks not
covered by any existing mechanism, for example, if a
clearing member defaulted on settlement of clearing results.
To overcome this risk, BI, the clearing operator, introduced
the failure to settle (FtS) mechanism. The FtS mechanism is
Under the FtS, SKNBI member banks are required to set
up a prefund in their settlement accounts at BI. The prefund
will then be used to settle all the clearing obligations of
member banks towards other banks. The SKNBI enables more
rapid, secure, reliable and efficient processing of
interbank transfers, an important part of the national
payment system.
Moreover, the SKNBI supports the paperless processing
of interbank credit transfers to any part of Indonesia, thus
doing away with the need for physical instruments as is the
norm for local clearing systems. The paperless operation of
transfers will also reduce bank operating costs otherwise
expended on preparation of paper instruments and support
more cost-efficient administration. “Banks are steadily
expanding their service outreach to customers.”
For BI itself, a key benefit of the SKNBI is time and
cost efficiency, as paper instruments are no longer
required. The SKNBI supports more extensive coverage of
funds transfer services through clearing by providing an
interregional clearing system for credit transfers. It also
ensures compliance with risk management principles for the
operation of multilateral netting clearing systems as
stipulated in the Core Principles issued by the Bank for
About the Clearing System
What then is the SKNBI? It is the BI clearing system
that encompasses debit clearing and credit clearing with
settlement processed on a nationwide basis. Clearing itself
is defined as the exchange of paper instruments or
Electronic Financial Data (EFD) among clearing members for
the account of the customers of clearing member banks or for
the account of the banks themselves, with settlement
conducted within a specified timeframe.
At this time, four clearing systems are in operation.
The four systems are the Electronic Clearing System in
Jakarta, the Automated Clearing System in Surabaya and
Medan, the semi-automated local clearing system operating in
33 clearing areas managed by BI and 37 clearing areas
managed by non-BI parties and the manual system used by 31
non-BI operators.
The SKNBI itself operates with two sub-systems: debit
clearing and credit clearing. Debit clearing involves
incoming and return clearing for interbank debit transfers
supported by paper instruments, such as bilyet giro,
cheques, debit notes and others. Debt clearing operates
locally within each clearing area, and is carried out by the
Local Clearing Operator. The Local Clearing Operator then
in by member banks. Funds transfers processed in debit
clearing are not subject to any limit on amount.
Credit clearing, on the other hand, involves the
paperless processing of credit transfers between banks. The
credit clearing operator processes credit transfers
nationwide. The National Clearing Operator is normally
managed by a special unit at the BI Head Office in Jakarta.
The credit clearing results are calculated by the National
Clearing Operator on the basis of credit EFD sent in by
members. The maximum amount that may be transferred through
credit clearing is Rp 100 million. Any transfers above this
amount must be processed through the BI Real Time Gross
Settlement (RTGS) system.
Clearing Surplus & Deficit
Not long ago, there were widespread reports of banks
sustaining a clearing deficit. Lack of information and
customer misunderstandings led to panic and massive
withdrawals of funds. In fact, a clearing deficit or
clearing surplus for a bank is quite the norm. It is easily
possible that at one time a bank experiences a clearing
deficit, but at another time books a clearing surplus.
What then is meant by clearing deficit? A clearing
payment obligations will be covered from the cash prefund
provided by the bank.
If there is insufficient cash prefund, the shortfall
will be taken from the demand deposit account held by the
bank at BI. If these funds are still insufficient, the bank
may avail the Clearing Intraday Liquidity Facility. If even
after all this, there are still not enough funds, the
remaining obligation can be covered by bank-held securities
converted into a Short-Term Funding Facility.
On the other hand, when a bank has a clearing surplus,
it receives more in claims during one clearing day compared
to liabilities. When the bank has a clearing surplus or a
credit position, the entire cash prefund advanced before
clearing is returned to the settlement account of the bank,
added to which is the crediting of the clearing result.
Clearing Charges
How much are the clearing charges? By any standard, not
much. For debit clearing in a clearing area with automatic
sorting of debit items, the charge is Rp 1,500 per
transaction. For debit clearing in a clearing area with
manual sorting of debit items, the charge is Rp 1,000 per
transaction. Credit clearing is charged at Rp 1,000 per
transaction. Daily average volume currently stands at about
