Published on Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The total number, written by individuals, has fallen by nearly half in 6 years; from 1.35 billion in 2003, to 711 million last year.
As many shops have now declined to offer cheques as a payment option, this has only hastened their demise. Bill payments are also now largely made via quick and convenient Direct Debits.
People are rapidly turning to debit cards for personal use far more, as they accounted for nearly three quarters of all plastic card purchases made in the second quarter of this year - an indication that society is far keener to live within its means in these times.
The Faster Payments Service, introduced for consumer banking in May 2008, processed just under 70 million payments amounting to a total value of £25.1bn in the second quarter of this year. By the end of the second quarter, almost half of all standing orders and 70 percent of online payments were made using the Faster Payments Service.
Although volumes of Faster Payments are currently lower than predicted at this stage of its life, by 2018 (the targeted end date for cheques in the UK), the Payments Council estimates that annual volumes could reach as high as 2.51 billion.
In a new report about the Faster Payments Service, undertaken by VocaLink and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the authors state that they expect the majority of corporate payments - currently made in the form of CHAPS payments - to migrate across to FPS once Direct Corporate Access is fully integrated in all member banks.
