Hello saintly-ga,
Data shows a significant decline in the use of cheques by UK
businesses, and there are some that predict that their use will become
obsolete. However, it appears that for now at least, they are still
an important tool for businesses.
According to the Association for Payment Clearing Services (APACS)
http://www.apacs.org.uk/
(Click on ?Cheques? under ?PAYMENT FACTS? in the menu on the left side
of the page.)
?In total nearly twelve million cheques and credits are cleared each
working day. Cheque volumes reached a peak in 1990 but usage has
fallen since then, mainly owing to increased use of plastic cards and
direct debits by personal customers. However, cheques remain popular
in the business sector for paying suppliers.
Overall cheque volumes are expected to continue to fall from a level
of 2.8 billion in 1999 to about 1.7 billion by 2009.?
---
?Cheque volumes fell by 4.3% in 1999, reflecting a further shift by
personal customers from cheque usage to plastic card and direct debit
payment. Moreover business sector usage fell for the second successive
year.?
(Click on ?Facts & Figures? under ?PAYMENT FACTS? in the menu on the
left side of the page.)
The table titled ?Payments: Facts and Figures? lists the ?TOTAL
TRANSACTION VOLUMES IN THE UK (Millions)? for the various payment
methods used for the years 1992 through 2002.
According to a Times Online article ?Technology directs cheque to the
exit?, By Joe Morgan, January 24, 2004
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5-974961,00.html
?FURTHER evidence that the humble cheque is in terminal decline
emerged yesterday after BACS, the UK?s automated payment clearing
house, reported an 8 per cent increase in the number of direct debit
and direct credit transactions in 2003.?
---
?Use of direct credit by businesses to pay suppliers also increased to
65 million transactions in 2003, a 25 per cent rise from last year.?
---
?There is still substantial use among individuals,? he said. ?Cheques
are also important in small businesses where the payroll is too small
to facilitate a BACS transaction.?
DirectDebit.co.uk
Business electronic payments set to double as cheque use declines
http://www.directdebit.co.uk/news/cpr_story42.php?sessionID=
?The number of cheques issued by businesses saw the largest ever
decline in 2002 as more organisations used automated payments,
according to BACS1, the provider of world class payment services
responsible for Direct Debit and BACS Direct Credit.
Business to business cheque volumes fell by over 8% last year to 716
million payments and overall business cheque use, including payments
to individuals, fell by 7.5% in 2002 to 964 million transactions.
Remote business banking payments, however, increased by 22% and
overall electronic business to business payments increased by 11.5%.
The volume of business cheques peaked only five years ago, but since
1997 has fallen by nearly one-quarter, a trend that is accelerating.?
===================================================
Other references:
DirectDebit.co.uk
Use of cheques continues to hamper British businesses
http://www.directdebit.co.uk/news/cpr_story50.php?sessionID=
DirectDebit.co.uk
Statistics
Overall payment volumes
http://www.directdebit.co.uk/news/statistics.php
BACS Limited
Internet banking use doubles in two years
http://www.bacslimited.co.uk/news/cpr_story43.php?sessionID=
===================================================
US information:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
The Use of Checks and Other Noncash Payment
Instruments in the United States
http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/2002/0802_2nd.pdf
?Payments by Businesses and Governments
The use of electronic payments by businesses and governments has also
increased since 1979. Many businesses have adopted direct deposit of
payroll, for example. The proportion of payroll payments made via
direct deposit rather than paper check increased from close to zero in
1979 to about 50 percent in 2000. Some businesses have also begun to
experiment with programs for converting checks to electronic payments
at point-of-sale locations and for the processing of bill payments. In
addition, a number of businesses are seeking ways to combine
electronic payment processing with invoicing, which could reduce the
number of check payments. The U.S. Department of the Treasury now
makes most of its payments using the ACH (chart 4) (though federal
government payments constituted only about 1.5 percent of all retail
noncash payments in 2000).?
(see page 10)
This document can be found by going to the Federal Reserve home page.
http://www.federalreserve.gov
Click on ?Payment Systems? in the menu on the left side of the page.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/paymentsys.htm
This document is the last one in the list under ?Payment Policies?.
===================================================
I hope you have found this information helpful. If you have any
questions, please request clarification prior to rating the answer.
Googlenut
Google Search Terms:
cheques decline payment method business
://www.google.com/search?q=cheques+decline+payment+method+business&btnG=Google+Search&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&safe=off&c2coff=1
BACS uk
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=BACS+uk |
