Banks announce plans to discontinue use of old cheques by December 31

Customers have been warned that old standard cheques will not be accepted and will not be cleared from January 1, 2024.

According to some messages sent out by the DMBs, customers were informed that the bank would discontinue the use of the old standard cheque in accordance with the CBN directive on the discontinuation of old cheques for transactions.

According to the CBN circular issued in 2019, DMBs were urged to stop accepting the old chequebooks and an initial deadline for the parallel run where the old and new chequebooks were accepted was fixed on August 31, 2020.

However, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the deadline was moved to December 31, 2020, while the Full enforcement of the second edition of the Nigeria Cheque Standard (NCS) and Nigeria Cheque Printers Accreditation Scheme (NICPAS) Version 2.0 was billed to commence by Åpril 1, 2021.

The CBN in a recent circular signed by Sam C. Okojere, Director, Banking Services Department (BSD), however, noted that most banks did not adhere to the earlier announced deadline.

The statement read, “The cut-off date for the parallel run was March 31, 2021, and from April 1, 2021, only new cheques are admissible in the clearing system.

However, it has come to our notice that some Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) are still using old cheques for in-house purposes. in view of this, it has become imperative for the Bank to direct all DMBs to ensure that the use of old cheques for any form of transactions, will cease to be acceptable on or before December 31, 2023,

Consequently, any DMBs who use the old cheques for in-house purposes at the expiration of December 31, 2023, or transmit any instrument that is not in conformity with NCS/NICPAS 2.0. would be penalised in accordance with the Sanctions Grid.”

Recent checks revealed that some DMBs have started intimating their customers about the update by asking them to check at their branches for the new chequebooks.

Customers were further warned that from January 1, 2024, the old standard cheques will not be accepted and will not be cleared