AJA Registrars (UK) has been approved by the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS) in the UK to perform APACS Standard 55 certification.

APACS operates with the UK banks and building societies and acts as the umbrella body for the UK payments industry and regulates the production of UK cheques and credits.

One of the many arms of APACS is the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company Ltd. (CCCC) who is responsible for regulating the printing and clearing of cheques. CCCC have developed an accreditation Scheme (CPAS). CPAS has been running successfully for some years now but these rules were revised this year to include a mandatory requirement for Cheque Printers to satisfy the requirements of the newly introduced APACS Standard 55 which is, in essence; BS7799-2:2002 with added industry specific requirements. The primary objective of the standard is fraud prevention through increased security during all phases of the cheque printing process. It has been estimated that there is a potential $18 million worth of cheque fraud every year so the UK banks take this issue very seriously.