Clearing houses amongBanks have traditionallybeenorganizedforcheque-clearing purposes, butmore recentlyhave cleared other types of settlements, includingelectronicfunds transfers.
The Payments Council said the chequeclearing system would only be closed once acceptable alternatives had been devised - and more consultation is expected in the future.
It has plans to modernise the undercapitalised banking system, which currently has no facilities for electronic payments and only a rudimentary process for cheque-clearing.