The South African banking industry is phasing out the use of cheques, and will stop honouring cheques issued from 1 January 2021.
Standard Bank tells customers that the use of cheques has declined significantly as consumers shift to digital payments.
“In response, and due in part to the physical nature of the product – now exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19, the South African banking industry as a whole has embarked on a journey to phase out cheques completely.”
The first step is the discontinuation of special clearances on all cheques, which took effect on 1 September 2020.
From now on, all cheques deposited with will be subject to a mandatory seven business-day clearance period before the funds are made available.
On 1 October, Standard Bank will stop ordering and issuing new chequebooks. Customers can still use cheques thereafter until their stocks run out, or until 31 December 2020, whichever comes first.
On 31 December, cheque issuing should stop, and the bank will stop processing cheques.
There will be a 21-day window thereafter when cheques issued by 31 December will be processed or settled.