Cheques to be phased out with the process starting in 2024 - RBF

The Reserve Bank of Fiji confirms that they intend to phase out the use of cheques, and that is to slowly reduce and then stop the use of cheques in the country.

RBF Governor, Ariff Ali says this process will start in 2024 and there will be awareness and lead time for everyone.

Ali confirms the Association of Banks in Fiji and the RBF have agreed to phase out cheques from 2024.

This is aligned to the reform of the payment system in Fiji to modernize and digitalize payments by encouraging its customers to use digital platforms as the preferred option for sending and receiving payments.

In this regard, the RBF will soon be consulting various stakeholders as well as creating awareness.

Ali says one of the first steps is to examine all current legislations regarding cheques and amending it.

The RBF Governor clarifies that there are several countries where cheques are no longer accepted as a form of payment e.g. New Zealand and there other countries are in the process of eliminating the use of cheques e.g. Australia, Singapore.

He says there are several benefits to moving to digital payments instead of cheques.

Ali says an example would be to enable efficiency in the payments process whereby customers would have payments cleared much faster than the current processing times for clearing of cheques which ranges from 1 day to 3-5 days.

He says it will also resolve the issue of cheques being dishonoured due to insufficient funds and the need for daily exchange for clearing between banks.