Commonwealth Bank announces changes to cheque access

One of the big four banks has announced cheques are gradually bouncing out the door as more and more Australians do their banking online.

The Commonwealth Bank is phasing out the use of cheques.

The Commonwealth Bank has announced upcoming changes to cheque access, with some new accounts no longer having access to a chequebook facility.

As more countries ban them — Finland cut the cheque in 1993 — and cheque use in Australia continues to decline, the Commonwealth Bank announced: “It’s time to cheque-out” with a number of changes coming into effect from June.

Some accounts will no longer have access to a chequebook facility and new and existing accounts will no longer have replacement cheque books issued automatically.

According to the bank, the use of cheques is in universal decline as more businesses turn to digital banking.

According to a business article on the CommBank website, Finland eliminated cheques in 1993 and Dutch banks haven’t accepted personal cheques since 2001.

Most New Zealand banks also stopped accepting cheques in 2021.

A CBA spokesman said:

“We are seeing changing customer preferences in the way Australians use their money and how they choose to do their banking.

“Broader industry analysis (from the Australian Banking Association) shows more than 80 per cent of Australians say they prefer to check account balances, pay bills, or transfer money online. This is consistent with what we are seeing among CBA customers

“We are taking steps to reduce cheque usage in line with customer preferences.”

CommBank said cheques were being phased out as it already offered “safer, faster and more reliable payment alternatives”.

“As Australia’s payment landscape changes, there is a need for the bank to support the payments system to manage the declining use of cheques.”

Cheque access will not be available for a number of new accounts opened after June 3, including business transaction accounts.

But it’s not quite the death knell of the cheques.

For existing accounts on that list, if a cheque book was issued to your account before June 3, your chequebook facility will remain open for that account.

If a cheque book was not issued for your account before June 3, cheque access to that account won’t be available.

The CommBank listed a number of other “convenient digital methods for paying and getting paid” including Fast payments & PayID, Direct Credit/Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), Direct debit and BPAY.