Do your cheques comply with the new standard?
The Canadian Payments Association (CPA) issued a new standard in relation to personal and business cheques so financial institutions can transfer cheques between themselves using digital imaging.
Cheque imaging will allow:- quicker access to funds after cheque deposit;
- new verification tools incorporated to combat forgery;
- quicker searches for cheques;
- for businesses, quicker access to cancelled cheques for bank reconciliation;
- new services using cheque imaging, which will replace the mailing out of cancelled cheques with account statements.
New deadline
The new cheque specifications have been in effect since January 2005. The CPA has introduced a grace period which will extend the transition period to September 2, 2008
This will allow business members whose cheques do not comply with the new standard to use up their current cheque supply and give them more time to prepare for the arrival of cheque imaging. These companies will be strongly encouraged to comply with the new CPA Standard 006 when they next order cheques.
As of September 2008
For personal cheques: it will likely be possible to continue processing them, provided that high-quality images can be made of them.
For business cheques: businesses risk finding themselves with cheques that are not easily rendered by imaging to meet the CPA's standards and are therefore impossible to process.
Cheque verification
All personal and business cheques ordered since October 2005 through a Desjardins caisse or AccèsD are in compliance with the new standard.
Cheques ordered between April and October 2005 may have been produced using the new standard. One clue is the numerical date field. See the examples of the new cheques.
Businesses that print their own cheques, that use a financial software program to produce their cheques or that have their cheques printed by a supplier other than Desjardins, have to change the format and make sure that it complies with the new specifications.
Desjardins offers members a cheque verification service to ensure compliance with the new standard.
Main changes
Front
- Numerical indication of the date (MMDDYYYY or YYYYMMDD).
- Standardized position for the amount field.
- Mandatory serial number in the MICR line.
- An increase in the minimum length of cheques.
Back
New printing requirements on the reverse of the cheque (e.g. teller stamp box, payee endorsement area).
Other technical specifications have been revised to ensure that high-quality images can be captured (e.g. italics, a bottom border printed below the MICR line, black carbon on the reverse of cheques, complex or colourful backgrounds).
The new version of Standard 006 can be found on the CPA's Web site.
Information on cheques must be legible
To maximize the quality of cheque images, the information on your cheques (e.g. amount, payee and date) must be legible.
If you fill out your cheques by hand: use black or blue ink.
If you use a printer:
- choose a minimum of 12 point font in caps;
- print in dark ink (bold).
Find out more
For further information, contact your local caisse or Business Centre, or visit the Canadian Payment Association's FAQ section.
