Clearing and Settlement

Clearing comes first. A clearing house collects payment instructions such as cheques, IPS transfers or card transactions from participants, validates them and works out what each institution owes or is owed.

Settlement follows. Funds are moved, usually across the participants' settlement accounts at the central bank, and once settlement is final the payment cannot be reversed by the system.

There are two basic settlement methods:

• Gross settlement: each payment is settled individually. Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) settles each payment immediately and is used for high-value payments; it needs more liquidity but removes settlement risk.
• Net settlement: obligations are offset over a period and only net amounts are settled at set times (deferred net settlement). It saves liquidity but exposes participants to risk until settlement; this is used by systems such as cheque clearing (ECC) and IPS.

In Nepal, NCHL performs clearing for ECC, IPS and national switches, and final settlement takes place in central bank money through NRB's RTGS. NRB's oversight under the Payment and Settlement Act, 2075 aims to make settlement safe, final and efficient.

पहिले क्लियरिङ हुन्छ: क्लियरिङ हाउसले चेक, IPS रकमान्तर वा कार्ड कारोबारका निर्देशन सङ्कलन, प्रमाणीकरण गरी प्रत्येक संस्थाले कति तिर्नु/पाउनु छ गणना गर्छ। त्यसपछि फर्छ्यौटमा प्रायः केन्द्रीय बैंकका फर्छ्यौट खाताबीच रकम सर्छ र अन्तिम फर्छ्यौटपछि फिर्ता हुँदैन।

• सकल फर्छ्यौट: प्रत्येक भुक्तानी छुट्टाछुट्टै; RTGS ले तत्कालै गर्छ, बढी तरलता चाहिन्छ तर फर्छ्यौट जोखिम हट्छ।
• खुद फर्छ्यौट: अवधिभरका दायित्व मिलान गरी खुद रकम मात्र तोकिएको समयमा फर्छ्यौट; तरलता बचत हुन्छ तर जोखिम रहन्छ। ECC र IPS यसका उदाहरण हुन्।

नेपालमा नेपाल क्लियरिङ हाउसले क्लियरिङ गर्छ र अन्तिम फर्छ्यौट नेपाल राष्ट्र बैंकको RTGS मा हुन्छ।