Customers at service counters of a BML branch. FILE PHOTO: MOHAMED SHARUHAAN/MIHAARU
The Maldives’ main bank decided Wednesday to cancel its old cheque books and reject any written cheques with revisions.
In a statement, Bank of Maldives Ltd (BML) announced that from next Tuesday, the bank will only accept cheques from cheque books released from June 2013 onwards. The old cheque books are being cancelled to accommodate BML cheques for Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA)’s new automated cheque clearing system.
BML urged clients with older cheque books to renew their books soon.
The latest cheque books that fit the standards of MMA’s automated system all bear Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) print bands on the cheques. The MICR bands were added as a new security feature to verify their legitimacy.
BML also announced that starting next year, the bank will not accept or clear any cheques that have its writing revised or altered in anyway.
In its statement, the bank also warned customers to take greater care with cheques to prepare for the automated cheque clearing system. This includes not writing, signing or stamping over the MICR bands and refraining from folding or stapling cheques.
MMA converted its old manual cheque clearing system to an automated one last October. Hence, all cheques in economic circulation must conform to MMA’s “Standards for Cheque Design and Magnetic Ink Printing of Maldivian Cheques” released in 2009.