1. General
The Cyprus Clearing House (CCH) was established in June 1964 in order to facilitate the exchange and clearance of cheques and other means. The CCH operates according to the procedures agreed by the members of the CCH Committee.
The CCH Committee consists of one representative of each member and is chaired by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) representative. The CCH Committee takes decisions or makes alterations to the CCH Rules & Regulations based on the voting of the two thirds of its members.
Three subcommittees have been established for the effective operation of the CCH, based on the main issues identified in relation to the issues dealt during CCH Committee meetings from time to time:
2. Participation in the CCH
Credit institutions that were granted operating license from CBC under the Business of Credit institutions Law of 1997 to 2017 are eligible participants to the CCH.
All members of the CCH participate in the Electronic Cheque Clearing System (ECCS) and must comply with its technical and operational requirements.
The ECCS was launched on the 26th November, 2010 and provides that, cheque clearing is conducted through the exchange of electronic data and image files amongst the participating credit institutions, instead of physical exchanges (cheque truncation). The cheques are being held by the credit institutions to which the cheques were presented. The implementation of the ECCS contributes in reducing the time needed for effecting cheque clearing, with benefits for both the credit institutions and their customers.
The active CCH members and respective CCH bank codes are the following:
3. Types of transactions
CCH handles the clearing and settling of cheques drawn on credit institutions operating in Cyprus, denominated in Euro. Cheques denominated in foreign exchange are not settled through the CCH.
The settlement of cheques cleared through the CCH is effected in TARGET2.
4. Pricing
Any expenses for the CCH are approved by decision of two thirds of the members of the Committee and such expenses are borne by the members in proportion to the total volume of the cheques presented to the CCH for clearing purposes during the preceding year.