By Chinwendu Obienyi
To meet digital advancement and comply with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have begun issuing notifications to the general public, stating that the use of old standard cheques will cease by December 31, 2023.
This is coming after the apex bank had stated that it will monitor the level of compliance by DMBs in accordance with its recently issued circular on the Nigerian cheque standard and added that it will sanction any bank with Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) reject by November 1, 2023.
In a notification sent to its customers via emails, Access Bank, warned that old standard cheques will not be accepted and would not be cleared from January 1, 2024.
The email said, “Dear valued customer, effective 31st December 2023, we will be discontinuing the use of our old standard cheque in accordance with CBN directive on discontinuation of old cheques for transactions.
“For your convenience, our various channels and branches are available for our new cheque book request.”
The bank further urged its customers to access its services through the internet banking platform, cards and POS machines for transfer, payment and purchases.
It would be recalled that following the expiration of the deadline issued by the CBN on acceptance of the old cheque book, DMBs across the country had on April 1, stopped to honour the old standard chequebook.
CBN had in January extended the full implementation of the newly revised cheque book.
However, the apex bank in a circular titled; Circular on the revised Nigeria Cheque Standard (NCS) and Nigeria Cheque Printers Accreditation Scheme (NICPAS): MICR Rejects, noted that its NCS standard tagged version 2.0 was released with the aim of increasing the efficiency and security of the Nigeria Clearing System.
It however stated that MICR rejects have been on the increase and ordered that in furtherance of the bank’s effort to reduce the number, DMBs must contact their personalisers and reiterate the need to revalidate the MICR code line details for correctness in accordance with the NCS and NICPAS version 2.0.
“Furthermore, both the presenting and receiving banks should also thoroughly examine their in-house cheque processing equipment to ensure that they are properly calibrated and supervised”, the CBN said.
It added that this is to eliminate distortion of image and data being transmitted during cheque truncation process.
It said, “Please note that the bank will monitor compliance with the provision of this circular and any bank with MICR reject starting from 1st November 2023 would be penalised in accordance with the sanctions grid.”