About BBCCL

The Company was formed in May 2007 as a means of formalising existing rules and standards for sterling paper clearings. Previously these rules were monitored on an ad-hoc basis by the Belfast Bankers’ Clearing Committee, whose members comprised the four main clearing banks in Northern Ireland, namely Northern Bank, Ulster Bank, First Trust and Bank of Ireland. Other banks could have access to the NI clearing by formal application or through an agency arrangement with one of these four banks.

The reason the Clearing Committee structure was replaced by the Belfast Bankers’ Clearing Company Ltd was a consequence of an investigation conducted by the Competition Commission into the personal current account market in Northern Ireland during 2005 and 2006. This investigation arose following a ‘super complaint’ from the Consumer Council to establish whether consumers in NI were being offered fair and competitive terms and conditions, in comparison to consumers in Great Britain. Part of the investigation included a review of the cheque clearing arrangements, which are crucial to the operation of current accounts. The review found that the Clearing Committee administered system in NI did not have a constitution or criteria for membership. It was proposed that the NI banks should adopt the rules and access criteria used by the Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (C&CCC), which governs the clearing arrangements in Great Britain. Due to some fundamental operational differences between the NI and GB arrangements, eg the use of the InterBank Data Exchange (IBDE) network in GB and method of daily settlement, the NI banks proposed that the NI clearing system should remain separate from C&CCC.

Accordingly it was agreed that the Belfast Bankers’ Clearing Company Ltd would be formed to provide formal governance of the paper clearing arrangements in NI and to define access criteria. The role of the company is to: 

• Maintain the integrity of the clearing arrangements and ensure the system is efficient and effective
• Maintain the clearing rules and regulations
• Determine fair, open and transparent eligibility criteria for admission to membership of the scheme
• Ensure that members comply with the rules and the obligations which membership entails 

Membership of the Company currently comprises the four Northern Ireland clearing banks, each of which appoints a director (often referred to as executive director) who, along with 3 independent directors (often referred to as non-executive director), make the decisions on behalf of the Company.