Australia's St George Bank is teaming up with Unisys to provide alternative cheque clearing services to the country's banking sector.
According to Australian press reports, St George has inked a new five year cheque clearing deal with Unisys which will see it offering these services to a number of banks, including Australia Post, Bendigo Bank and Adelaide Bank.
St George says the new service will place it among the top four cheque-clearing banks in Australia - which are currently Commonwealth Bank of Australia, NAB, ANZ and Westpac.
Unisys provides cheque clearing services in Australia via its Unisys Payment Services Ltd (UPSL) subsidiary, which processes around a third of all cheques in the country.
The vendor provides the same services in the UK through its Intelligent Processing Solutions Ltd (iPSL) unit, which was set up in 2000 in partnership with high street banks Lloyds TSB and Barclays. HSBC later acquired a stake in the venture in 2001.
According to press reports, Unisys is now looking to pull out of its UK cheque clearing venture. Reports last month claim the unit has become a major drag on Unisys' margins and the vendor is looking to re-negotiate or even sell its 51% stake in iPSL.