The Union Bank of India (UBI) has informed its customers about phasing out old cheque books, and replacing them with new cheque books with additional security features from July 1, post the merger of Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank with it, and also as part of a prior Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directive.
The old cheque books from Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank are valid only till June 30, 2021, it said in a communication to its customers.
As per RBI directives, all old cheque books issued by branches of the erstwhile Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank would not be effective in usage from July 1. RBI has informed that no further extension would be provided, the bank noted and told its customers to immediately contact their branch manager and replace their old cheque books.
“Only now the lockdown restrictions are being eased. It will be difficult for all customers to replace their old cheque books by June 30. Banks have so far been operating with limited staff, which makes it even more difficult. If an extension has been provided for IT returns filing and linkage of Aadhaar with PAN, why can’t it be done for cheque books,” said a customer of Andhra Bank from Avadi. She also said the new cheque books could be sent by post.
UBI also told its own customers to replace their old cheques by June 30. In compliance with RBI’s directives issued on 01.07.2016 for strengthening the controls in cheque presenting/passing process, the UBI said that in December 2017 it had introduced security features in the cheque itself and provided these cheques to customers as per their requirements.
The Bank said it is continuously requesting its customers to replace old unused cheques (issued prior to December 2017) with these new cheques with additional security features, but many customers are still using old cheques for their transactions.
Certain instances are also noticed where the customers have destroyed these cheques at their end, however, the same was not informed to the Branch for scrapping these cheques in the CBS (Core Banking Solution) system. It was observed that some customers have cheques prior to the December 2010 period also (i.e. prior to the Cheque Truncation System implemented in 2010) which also need to be replaced with new cheques having additional security features, it added.
Old cheque leaves issued prior to 2010 are not covered under the Cheque Truncation System and cannot be used further. Since cheque sorting was done by an automated system, based on the MICR code printed at the bottom of the cheque, all those cheque leaves of amalgamated banks would necessarily be replaced. Enough time was given in both cases, said a former banking official.
