The Interbank Clearing Houses Center (ICH), established with the Law on Regulation of Payments by Cheque and Protection of Cheque Holders (Law Number: 3167), performs its activities via the Ankara and İstanbul Clearing Houses in accordance with the ICH regulation issued by the CBRT.

The smooth and efficient functioning of the cheque clearing system, which has a vital role among the payment systems, is of utmost importance in order to fulfill payments made by cheque. Therefore, with the aim of enhancing the quality and efficiency of cheque clearing activities, technological developments and needs are followed and necessary improvements have been fulfilled within the ICH. In this perspective, after renewal of the technical infrastructure of the ICH in 2015, it has been ensured in 2016 that the cheques presented to the banks other than the drawee banks could be viewed by the drawee bank itself by adding cheque images to the transactions between the banks.

The volume and value of cheques cleared in the ICH in 2016 were 15.4 million and TL 453.9 billion, respectively (Graph 28).

Graph 28. Cheques Cleared in the Interbank Clearing Houses Center