Membership and Process
Membership
Banking and financial institutions which have the intention to be a member of the NCS shouldhave the qualifications to issue payment instruments and submit applications for membership to the NBC. The NCS has two-tier memberships, direct and indirect members. The direct membership refers to a financial institution that operates interbank payments and meets its settlement obligations through the system using its KHR and/or USD settlement account held at the NBC. Every direct member is required to:

• Have a settlement account at the NBC.
• Have adequate infrastructure compliant to all operational and technical standards for connecting to the NCS.
• Meet all obligations stated in the law and other regulations related to the use of National Clearing House services.

The indirect membership refers to a financial institution that is able to clear and settle its checks and electronic payments through a selected direct member that has obtained written approval from the NBC. The indirect member is not required to have any settlement account at the NBC and any IT infrastructure connected to the NCS. A member may request to change its status of membership from direct to indirect member and vice versa at any time by written approval from the NBC. As of April 2015, there are 37 direct participants in the system including all the commercial banks but there is no indirect member.

Process
The clearing process is conducted on the basis of the electronic input received from the participants. After the NCS calculates obligations between participants on the multilateral net basis, the results are sent to the Account Management Division for settlement at designated times. The multilateral net interbank claims shall be settled out of balances on members’ settlement accounts maintained separately in KHR and/or USD at the NBC. In the case of check clearing, the exchange of physical checks and returned checks for the members is conducted at check exchange centers. The physical check exchange at the center is conducted by reconciling with electronic input and output files of checks.