Defining BACH, BEFTN and RTGS

Defining BACH, BEFTN and RTGS

Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH):

BACH is an electronic network for financial transactions in Bangladesh.

BACH, the first ever electronic clearing house of Bangladesh, has two components – the Automated Cheque Processing System (ACPS) and the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). Both the systems operate in batch processing mode- transactions received from the banks during the day are processed at a pre-fixed time and settled through a single multilateral netting figure on each individual bank’s respective books maintained with the Bangladesh Bank. A state-of-the-art Data Center (DC) and a Disaster Recovery Site (DRS) have been established comprising of most modern software and hardware for dealing with the operations of BACH. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) has been created between the participating commercial banks and Data Center (DC) & Disaster Recovery Site (DRS) for communicating necessary information related to BACH. Digital Certificate has been formulated for the first time in Bangladesh for secured data communication.

Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network (BEFTN) :

Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network(BEFTN) is a system of transferring money from one bank account directly to another bank without money changing hands.

Electronic Funds Transfer System (EFT) will operate as a processing and delivery center providing for the distribution and settlement of electronic credit and debit instruments among all participating banks. This Network will operate in a real-time batch processing mode. Transaction files received from the banks during the day will be processed as they are received to ensure that if there are conditions that would result in a file or batch reject the banking company will have sufficient time to fix the errors and resubmit the file. All payment transactions will be calculated into a single multilateral netting figure for each individual bank. Final settlement will take place using accounts that are maintained with Bangladesh Bank.

Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) :

Real time gross settlement systems (RTGS) are funds transfer systems where transfer of money takes place from one bank to another on a “real time” and on “gross” basis. Settlement in “real time” means payment transaction is not subjected to any waiting period. The transactions are settled as soon as they are processed. “Gross settlement” means the transaction is settled on one to one basis without bunching or netting with any other transaction. Once processed, payments are final and irrevocable.