J.P. Morgan Enhances Asian U.S. Dollar Clearing Solution

J.P. Morgan enhanced its U.S. Dollar Clearing—Asia Direct solution to further assist clients seeking the most efficient means of making U.S. dollar payments to banks in Asia.

As part of the improvements, J.P. Morgan clients now have direct access to a larger number of banks as the solution's coverage has been expanded to members of Japan's Tokyo Dollar Clearing System. In addition, J.P. Morgan has invested in an intelligent routing technology that streamlines processing and speeds settlement by enabling the fastest channel for delivery.

The U.S. Dollar Clearing—Asia Direct payment solution provides direct access to multiple regional and in-country U.S. dollar clearing systems in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan from a single U.S. dollar account. In other words, J.P. Morgan clients are not required to establish separate accounts in each country of clearing, resulting in better cash concentration, lower fees, simplified funding arrangements and decreased time spent on reconciliation activities, according to the bank.

U.S. Dollar Clearing—Asia Direct initially provided clients with direct access to banks in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan that are members of Hong Kong's Clearing House Automated Transfer System (CHATS). By adding direct access to Japan's Tokyo Dollar Clearing system, clients benefit from expedited clearing capabilities in that country. J.P. Morgan has been the sole operator of Japan's Tokyo Dollar Clearing System since establishing it in 1986. The bank also plans on expanding its U.S. Dollar Clearing—Asia Direct solution to additional in-country clearing systems in Asia within the coming years.

J.P. Morgan has enhanced some of the technology at the heart of U.S. Dollar Clearing—Asia Direct as well. The payment prequalification process for ensuring that a bank is a qualified member of the local cleaning systems is now automated. New intelligent routing technology determines the quickest channel for delivering payments, resulting is accelerated settlement and more efficient liquidity management. Without Asia Direct, clearing U.S. dollar payments to Asia can take a minimum of two days. No additional software or features are required to take advantage of these capabilities.