A new electronic checks system will be piloted in three banks before its wide implementation in all banks, the Central Bank of Iran announced.
As per the new check law, the digital secure check system (also known as Checkad) should operate with electronic checks.
Ali Salehabadi, governor of the Central Bank of Iran, predicted that the first electronic check will be issued in the coming weeks, Peivast reported.
The procedure of issuing e-checks via Checkad will undergo trials in Tejarat Bank, Bank Saderat Iran and Parsian Bank, as their infrastructure is more amenable for this project.
Checkad provides about 30 online services to users, including facilities to activate the system, request a checkbook, issue e-checks, collect intra- and inter-bank checks, transfer checks, guarantee digital checks, cancel and block checks, and view the checks received.
In this system, no paper check is delivered to the customer and all procedures are handled online through a mobile phone or computer.
Once the system operates without a glitch, other banks will gradually link up with Checkad to issue e-checks.
The procedure of issuing an e-check is the same as that of a paper check, wherein permission is granted to issue a checkbook, the check’s information is recorded in the Sayyad system and the check’s status is controlled. If, for any reason, the check bounces, the system will send the information of the bounced check to all banks.
However, the image of an e-check is different from that of a traditional check. Checkad provides a transaction receipt to the person issuing the check, after it is deposited in the recipient’s account.
Bank account holders need to get an electronic signature and have a smartphone or laptop to issue an e-check.
According to CBI, plans have been made to first provide e-checks to natural people and after six months to legal people, as the procedure for latter is more complicated due to the multiple signatures required in legal checks.
Support for Online Businesses
The plan to support online businesses on domestic platforms, approved in the sixth meeting of the digital economy working group held in Tehran, was unveiled on Nov. 1.
The ministries of ICT, economy, industries, cooperatives, defense and culture, as well as the Plan and Budget Organization, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, the Central Bank of Iran and the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology have approved the plan’s regulations.
The regulations have been devised in the form of 14 articles that stipulate 20 types of legal protection for domestic platforms and businesses, ICTNA reported.
Various payment channels, hardware infrastructure, incentives for setting up businesses in science and technology parks and discounts for advertising on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting have been foreseen for business platforms.
Other facilities include tax exemptions, license waiver and easy validations of bank payments and collateral.
“In order to avoid creating a monopoly, we have not restricted this support to a single platform. Based on rules that will be announced soon, any domestic platform that meets the necessary conditions will receive this support,” ICT Minister Isa Zarepour was quoted as saying by the news portal of Ecomotive.
“If businesses start operating on domestic platforms, registration on these platforms will be considered analogous to obtaining the license. Of course, the national license portal will probably need information that can be uploaded online.”
Zarepour noted that credit payment and direct withdrawal from a bank account are among other facilities.
“CBI intends to launch Ramz Rial [rial password] that will help benefit eligible platforms,” he added.
Since the induction of the incumbent government, the growth of digital economy was prioritized on the order of the president and a working group was formed. It became operational in the fourth quarter of last fiscal year (Dec. 22, 2021-March 20, 2022).
According to articles 127 and 138 of the Iranian Constitution, all the powers of the Council of Ministers and the president related to the digital economy have been delegated to this working group.
