Source: Chaps
CHAPS Clearing Company Limited, the UK’s same day high-value payment system, welcomes ClearBank as a shareholder and Direct Participant in CHAPS with immediate effect.
ClearBank® is the second new member to sign up this month, following Bank of China Limited’s decision to join earlier in May. The latest addition brings the total number of CHAPS Direct Participants to 26 with several more major institutions set to join before the end of next year.
Launched in February 2017, ClearBank® delivers open access to payment, current account and transactional clearing services. Financial services organisations, from banks and building societies through to new challenger banks and Fintechs, will be able to process payments and offer new competitive transactional banking services.
Nick Ogden, ClearBank® Executive Chairman, said:
“ClearBank® is the first new clearing bank in more than 250 years, delivering full and direct access to all of the UK payments infrastructure. We started talking to CHAPS in 2015 as a key component of our strategy to open access and create competition. As the first bank to connect to all the UK payment schemes concurrently, CHAPS worked with us to agree an ambitious timetable which I’m delighted to say we have met. The support and commitment from the CHAPS teams ensured that we achieved this key business goal.”
Tim Fitzpatrick, Chief Executive of CHAPS Co, said:
“We are delighted to welcome ClearBank® to CHAPS as a shareholder and full Direct Participant. As the UK’s fifth clearing bank, ClearBank® delivers a new level of open competition and transparency to the UK financial services marketplace, meeting with CHAPS’ priorities and goals. We look forward to working closely with them as we continue to develop our service for the benefit of all our users.
“ClearBank’s® participation reinforces the growth in our participation base and we expect to see more institutions joining CHAPS in the future.”
CHAPS continues to be one of the largest RTGS systems in the world, offering efficient, individually settled and irrevocable same day payments to meet the sterling RTGS payment requirements of its Direct Participants.