LAST Thursday the Banker’s Association of Namibia (BAN) launched a local clearing house for Namibian banks to clear electronic, card and cheque payments in Namibia.

Namclear is a cooperative venture between five Namibian-based banks, namely: Bank of Namibia, Bank Windhoek, First National Bank, Nedbank and Standard Bank.
Paul Hartmann, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Namibia said: “The National Payment System Reform project is being driven by the entire banking industry and led by the Bank of Namibia as overseer of payment systems. 
The Bank of Namibia and the Bankers Association of Namibia have agreed that the Bank would spearhead the settlement leg of the project, while banking institutions would assume responsibility for seeking appropriate solutions for local payment and clearing arrangements”.
One of the key objectives of the initiative is to provide “same day” clearing and settlement of all paper-based items, thus reducing or eliminating holdovers and associated costs.
“The establishment of Namclear presented a unique opportunity for the Namibian banking industry to create a payments architecture aimed at the future...The vision of the Bankers Association is to participate in the establishment of a payment infrastructure in Namibia that will provide substantial long-term benefits to the Namibian banking industry and the country as a whole,” James Hill, President of the Bankers Association of Namibia and Managing Director of Bank Windhoek said.