How it came about
In September 2004, the Financial Committee launched a review of the Clearing House operations with the intention of redefining the overall strategy in the light of industry changes over the years. The ICH Operational Review was run by the Clearing House with input from external legal and other experts specialising in the operation of clearance and settlement systems. The inputs and proposals were all reviewed by the ICH Panel, which made many recommendations of its own.
Recommendations
The principal recommendations included the consolidation of the various membership categories, the removal of out-dated paper-based processes, the acceleration of the existing monthly settlement and a complete overhaul of the governing regulations. One of the most important recommendations was the provision of multiple settlements in place of the monthly settlements that have been in place since 1947.
Approvals
The Financial Committee reviewed the the proposals and approved them all, with a modification that the monthly settlement cycle should be moved to weekly, with a target date of January 2007. The changes were recommended to the Board of Governors in December 2005, and approved for implementation in 2007. The Financial Committee agreed that implementation will commence in May 2007 in common with the ACH.
Current status
The ICH and the ACH have agreed a common cutover, which commences with the May 2007 Clearance. The May 2007 Clearance will operate to a different schedule, closing on the 7th of June. June will have two separate Periods, before the migration is completed with the July Period 1 Clearance. The final Calendar is now available and can be downloaded from the site. Also now available are the Web F12 Specifications.
The ICH Test site is closed for further weekly settlement testing. Migration has now commenced on the ICH Live system.
Please see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for common questions. If you do not see the answer, further information on Clearing House aspects of the changes is available from ich@iata.org. Information on the Revenue Accounting aspects is obtainable from revenueaccounting@iata.org.