The Payments Council will work closely with a number of contracted schemes, for the benefit of the UK payments industry. These include BACS Payments Schemes Limited, CHAPS Clearing Company Limited, Cheque & Credit Clearing Company Limited, and LINK ATM Scheme.
Each scheme has entered into a contract with the Payments Council to set out their respective rights and duties towards each other. Under the contract, schemes are required to report to the Board. The Board will also be able to make decisions that are binding on scheme members in order to implement its strategy.
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Bacs Payments Schemes Limited
Bacs is a membership-based industry body whose role is to own, develop, enhance and preserve the integrity of its automated payment and payment-related services. It promotes efficiency and innovation in payments and best practice amongst organisations that originate payments. It is also responsible for the provision of clearing and settlement services for the payment schemes it directly operates. In 2006 Bacs schemes accounted for 5.5 billion payments, equating to £3.4 trillion. Bacs operates the Direct Debit and Bacs Direct Credit schemes.
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CHAPS Clearing Company
CHAPS Clearing Company Limited processes and settles systemically important and time-dependent payments. CHAPS continues to be one of the largest real-time gross settlement systems (RTGS) in the world offering its members, and around 400 financial institutions utilising agency arrangements through direct Members, an efficient, risk free and reliable same-day payments mechanism for both their Sterling and euro RTGS payment requirements. CHAPS is a Member-focused Company with strategic direction, leadership and ownership vested in an active Board of Directors.
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Cheque & Credit Clearing Company (C&CCC)
The clearing of cheques in Great Britain is managed by the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company (C&CCC), the scheme company. The role of the company is to: manage the clearing of sterling cheques, sterling credits and euro cheques; determine the rules required to maintain the integrity of the clearings and determine objective, fair and open eligibility criteria for admission to membership of the System; and ensure that members comply with the rules. The C&CCC is owned by its 12 members, who appoint directors to make collective decisions in the industry co-operative space.
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LINK ATM Scheme
The LINK ATM Scheme brings together banks, building societies and other institutions that operate cash machines (ATMs) and / or issue cards that can be used in these cash machines. All but a handful of the UK's cash machines, both those that are free-to-use and those that are pay-to-use, are connected to the LINK network. Cards designated for use in the LINK network can be used at any machine that carries the LINK logo. The scheme sets the rules that cover issues such as how transactions are made, how customer data is kept secure, and how any any charges that apply are made clear to customers.
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The UK Domestic Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme
The Guarantee Card Scheme started in July 1969 with the aim of creating common, easily identifiable design features to simplify acceptance procedures for ‘face to face’ transactions using cheques. Since 1st October 1990 the common theme for the UK Domestic Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme has been a bust of William Shakespeare, which has been depicted in various ways on guarantee cards of all denominations (£50, £100 and £200). The Cheque Card Management Committee (CCMC) is responsible for the management and operation of the UK Domestic Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme. Membership is open to any financial institution having authorisation as a credit institution who wishes to issue cards under the Scheme.
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The Currency Clearings Committee
The Currency Clearings Committee is a separate operational grouping, facilitated by Cheque and Credit Clearing Company Limited, but with its own separate budget and constitution, which is responsible for the operation of any UK paper- based clearing in any currency other than Sterling or euro. The Committee currently only operates one clearing, for US Dollar cheques drawn in the UK, of which there are a small number (averaging around 400 per day in 2006) but with sufficient value to justify the existence of a formal clearing. There are five settlement members and around 60 agency banks settling through the clearing.
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The Belfast Bankers' Clearing Company Limited (BBCCL)
The scheme company oversees the Northern Ireland banks' processes for the clearing of sterling cheques and sterling paper credits in Northern Ireland, together with the clearing of Euro cheques drawn on Northern Ireland banks. The role of the company is to: maintain the integrity of these 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; and ensure that members comply with the rules and the obligations which membership entails. Membership of the BBCCL comprises the four Northern Ireland clearing banks, each of which appoints a director who, along with 3 independent directors, make the decisions on behalf of the company.
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