 The Asian Clearing Union (ACU) was established with its headquarters at Tehran, Iran, on December 9, 1974, at the initiative of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), for promoting regional co-operation.

 The main objective of the ACU is to facilitate payments among member countries for eligible transactions on a multilateral basis, thereby economizing on the use of foreign exchange reserves and transfer costs, as well as promoting trade among the participating countries.

 The Central Banks and the Monetary Authorities of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are currently the members of the ACU.

 The Asian Monetary Units (AMUs) is the common unit of account of ACU and is denominated as ‘ACU Dollar’ and ‘ACU Euro’, which is equivalent in value to one US Dollar and one Euro, respectively.

 All instruments of payments under ACU have to be denominated in AMUs. Settlement of such instruments may be made by AD Category-I banks, through the ACU Dollar accounts and ACU Euro accounts, which should be distinct from the other US Dollar and Euro accounts respectively, maintained for non ACU transactions.