Put Cheque truncation clearing back in order

THE DRILL AS TEXT

1. In Cheque truncation clearing, what happens first, and what follows?
   • Asha deposits the cheque — Asha pays a paper cheque into Northstar, her collecting bank, at a branch or through the mobile app. The cheque is an instruction from Demo Trading to its bank, Bank Alfa, to pay Asha.
   • Northstar captures the image and truncates the paper — Northstar scans the cheque into a digital image and the details printed along its bottom, then stops the paper from travelling any further — this is truncation. From here the image does the clearing, not the physical cheque.
   • Northstar credits Asha provisionally — Northstar shows the money in Asha's account as a provisional credit — visible, but not yet certain. The paying bank can still return the cheque, so the funds are not final until the return window has passed.
   • The image is presented through the clearing system — Northstar sends the cheque image and its data into the image-exchange system, which routes it to Bank Alfa as the drawee. The image is the legal presentment — the paper never moves between the banks.
   • Bank Alfa checks the drawer's funds and signature — Bank Alfa checks that Demo Trading has the money, that the cheque has not been stopped, and that the signature and details are in order. This is the checkpoint that decides whether the cheque is paid or returned.
   • The day's net settles between the banks — Asha's cheque settles inside the day's net figure between Bank Alfa and Northstar — all the cheques each bank owes the other collapse into one movement in central bank money. Only now does money actually move between the banks.