African Banks Stop Accepting Cross-Border Checks

Commercial banks in Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland will cease to accept check deposits and alternative bank drafts issued outside the country where the transaction is being requested, reported All Africa. The general goal is to stop accepting cross-border checks, which is part of the commencement of the Integrated Regional Electronic Settlement System (SIRESS) scheme within the South Africa Development Community.

Banks located in the Common Monetary Area have said they will begin the new regulations starting July 22 of this year. Customers are being asked to begin using Electronic Funds Transfers to complete future cross-border payments after new rules are set in place.

“Cross-border checks account for less than 1 percent of all check payments compared to approximately 10 percent of electronic cross- border payments. For such a low volume of cross-border checks, it is not economically viable to establish a separate inter-regional payment system for checks as part of SIRESS, hence the decision to phase them out. The risk associated with check payments is also much higher compared to electronic payments,” stated Marlize Horn, executive officer for marketing and corporate communication services at Bank Windhoek.

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