SPICK

SPICK was introduced by the central bank in November 1997, to expedite the clearing of checks, and is owned and operated by BNM. SPICK’s member institutions authorize their customers to issue checks, and are composed of 12 domestic commercial banks (of which two are Islamic banks) and 14 locallyincorporated foreign banks.

SPICK is available in three regions of west Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Johore Bahru), and accounts for about 90 percent of the checks cleared in the country (the remaining 10 percent are cleared manually). SPICK is an image-based check-clearing system where incoming check images are sent to paying banks on CD-ROM at the same time as the transmission of data to those banks, for verification signatures without receiving actual checks.

SPICK is operated in the following manner:

• Banks deliver checks for clearing to SPICK by 18:00.
• Checks for clearing are processed, check images are stored on CD-ROM, and data is sent to banks through the Financial Institution Network (FINNET).
• At 9:00 on the following business day, the checks are settled through the accounts of member banks maintained at BNM, with values of the previous day. (Unpaid checks are cleared at 15:30 on the same day.)

SPICK’s usage fees are as follows: RM0.05 per check for inward clearing, RM1.00 per unpaid check, and RM0.04 per check image on CD-ROM.

In addition to regular checks, SPICK handles banker’s acceptance bills, banker’s checks, demand drafts, interest warrants, pension warrants, and drawing vouchers. The number of items cleared in 2002 was 176.43 million, amounting to a total of RM1.081 trillion.