BI drafts national payments system

JAKARTA (JP): Bank Indonesia has prepared a blue print for the development of an efficient, secure and reliable national payments system.

Bank Indonesia Governor J. Soedradjad Djiwandono said at an annual bankers meeting last night that many central banks were devoting greater attention to their payments systems.

"The payments system supports the creation of a more efficient financial sector while improving the effectiveness of monetary and banking policies," Soedradjad said.

He said the payments system had a considerable potential risk that could affect national economic stability.

The blue print details matters related to institutional organization, policies, legal provisions, infrastructure as well as procedures and programs to be developed progressively.

In the short term, Bank Indonesia (the central bank) plans to introduce an electronic clearing system here to expedite the clearing process, which is still handled manually.

The manual clearing system caused inefficiencies in the payments system because it depended on traffic and other factors, he said.

The amount of funds cleared daily by the central bank has increased tremendously from Rp 4.5 trillion in 1991 to Rp 25 trillion (US$10.5 billion) now.

Besides an electronic clearing system, the central bank is also preparing a system for retail payments and electronic funds transfers as part of a high-value payment system.

"As we all know, the main elements in the operation of a national payments system are banks. Therefore, at this opportunity, I would like to urge banks to play a more active role in the development of this national payments system," Soedradjad said.

He said the existence of an efficient, secure and reliable national payments system would benefit not only the banking community but also the national economy. (rid)