Now you can cash cheques with a smartphone

CUSTOMERS can now deposit cheques using their smartphones instead of processing them at a bank branch or post office.

There’s no denying the use of the cheque is rapidly diminishing, but banks are working hard to improve how they can processed.

Figures from the Australian Payments Network, the payments industry selfregulatory body, found cheque use in Australia has fallen by 80 per cent over the past 10 years and continues decline at about 20 per cent annually.

But big bank Westpac says it is still receiving more than 30,000 cheques every day.

As a result, it has improved the ways cheques can be processed and the speed at which money can be transferred between accounts.

This includes rolling out a new mobile cheque-deposit feature.

Customers can now use their banking app to deposit a cheque under $1000.

Westpac’s consumer bank chief executive, George Frazis, said the latest innovation added to a suite of mobile app functionalities.

“Customers can simply upload a picture of the front and back of their cheque to the Westpac app,” he said.

“The cheque will usually clear and be in the chosen transaction account within three business days.”

The bank also recently rolled out the ability to make payments using virtual assistant Siri on a customer’s iPhone.

New research from Westpac found almost half of Australians (41 per cent) still use cheques to make or receive payments. The latest Reserve Bank figures show 80.4 million cheques were processed in the past financial year, down from 99.9 million for the same period in the 2016-17 financial year. Australian Payments Network chief executive officer Dr Leila Fourie said cheque use continued to decrease.

“Individuals and businesses are abandoning cheques at a rapid rate,” she said.

“As consumers continue to choose digital payments, financial institutions offer a myriad of solutions across all payment channels.

“It’s all about choice and convenience.”

Their figures show the use of cards increased by 12.7 per cent to 8.8 billion transactions in the year to June 30.