According to the international experience in the exchange of check images at regional level, El Salvador seeks with this reform to reduce the time of funds release, since one of the objectives is to position itself at the level of Paraguay, which is the only country that delivers the money to the users the same day.

The time for this transaction is reduced with the modernization, since in 2021 users received their funds under a process that lasted three days to one, but with the update of the regulations it will be only four hours.

According to the Banco Central de Reserva (BCR), 3.71 million checks were issued in 2021, equivalent to US$21 million. With the truncation, it will be possible to make the economy more dynamic and increase that figure.

In addition, these reforms would have legal backing, since they would be governed by the Code of Commerce, the Organic Law of the BCR, the Law of Cooperative Banks and Savings and Credit Societies and the Banking Law.

Once again, the commission would be working in favor of the population, since part of its work is that it has supported the execution of several "acts of financial justice", as they call it.

Among them are the reforms to the Credit History Law, modifications to the Credit Card Law and updates to the Law Against Usury, the Civil Code and the Code of Commerce.

According to BCR reports, in 2019 a regulation was implemented in that institution where a new check standard was defined, where the security measures were strengthened.

In addition, a standard UV pattern was placed to favor the validation of the check against the image and conditions were implemented for a future exchange of the images of these.

In 2020, the bank developed a process for the replacement of checkbooks by the financial system with the new standard.

And in 2021, the implementation of the new check clearing process and system was developed. Here an image exchange of these checks was made (maintaining the physical exchange).

The truncation of checks is a procedure by which the physical exchange of these documents is reduced or eliminated, being replaced in part or in its entirety by electronic records or images, processed and transmitted through the payment system.

Currently, banking transactions are the mechanisms preferred by the salvadoran population, but the issuance of checks is the second method of payment used by individuals, companies and entrepreneurs. For this reason, the parliamentarians propose the corresponding modifications to the article.

Translated by: A.M