320BC

Cheques

Way back in the distant past, traders soon realised that carrying around large amounts of gold or silver as payment was both inconvenient and risky. Much simpler and safer to write out a bill of exchange as a ‘promise to pay’. Archeologists have found evidence that these bills existed in India in 320BC, and something similar certainly existed in Ancient Rome –they were called ‘praescriptiones’.

Such bills were in use in Venice in the 13th century to facilitate international trade. In England, too, letters to bankers allowing payment to be made to a third party had evolved. The invention of printing in the later Middle Ages meant that bankers could print ‘cheques’ for their customers to sign.

Pre-printed forms for customers’ use were introduced by the Bank of England, and most modern banks have a few 18th-century cheques on display in their archives. The wording is familiar: “Please pay to Mr X…the sum of…” and then signed with a flourish as “Your Humble Servant” followed by your name.

In the 19th century, ‘cheque-books’ and personal account numbers were introduced, followed in the 20th century by the now-familiar ‘sort codes’ and cheque numbers as the banking industry began to rely on automation.

Payments by cheque are said to have peaked in the 1990s when a massive four billion were written, but the rise of credit and debit cards and electronic banking meant that numbers had dropped to 558 million by 2015.

So is the cheque, as we once knew it, now obsolete? Banks say no, that cheques as a mode of payment have adapted and that they can now be deposited in a bank account through a mobile phone…