The Australian banking industry recognises that consumers are increasingly demanding the convenience and advantages of technology and digital alternatives to meet their transactional needs, and this has been a consideration for all Banks operating in Australia over the past decade.

With ongoing changes in a number of industries, and the widespread phasing out of paper-related processes, which has only accelerated under the effects of COVID-19, it has become necessary to consider alternatives to issuing and receiving funds via paper cheque.

For this reason, from 1 July 2021 ABAL has ceased the provision of all cheque services. This includes the issuance of bank cheques and cheque books, and the acceptance of funds via paper cheque.

Why are we doing this?

Reliability

Cheques can be stopped, returned or issued in bad faith. This is often to the disadvantage of a cheque beneficiary. Unfortunately, cheques may also be subject to fraud in cases of lost, stolen, tampered and incorrectly issued cheques.

Convenience

The time taken to process cheques (a minimum clearance period of 3 days) can often be the cause of payment delays. Payments made via electronic funds transfer (EFT) or real time gross settlement (RTGS) allow for quicker and more efficient settlement of transactions.

More details on what this means for you:

Paying funds from your ABAL account

You will no longer be able to issue cheques from your account via bank cheque, cheque book or counter cheques.

We understand that this is a change for customers who use cheques for business or personal purposes. We’re here to ensure you’re equipped with effective and, where possible, tailored alternatives to issuing cheques, such as:

  • A conveniently accessible internet banking funds transfer service, available via our online banking platform, abal.online, or our mobile app, abal.mobile.
  • For larger transactions above your internet banking transfer limits, we would be happy to discuss an online or RTGS transfer option suitable to you.

Receiving funds to your ABAL account

We will no longer be able to accept cheques into your account, via form of personal, business or bank cheque. Any cheques presented for clearance on or after this date cannot be honoured.

For incoming payments from a third party, we encourage you to advise your remitters to make all payments via account transfer. You can contact your branch to confirm your BSB and account number, or refer to your internet banking.

For deposits you wish to make into your own account:

  • Transactional Accounts

Transfers are welcomed into transactional accounts. You will simply require a BSB and account number.

  • Term Deposits & Home Loans

If you hold a term deposit account or home loan with ABAL and wish to discuss your alternatives to cheque deposits, we are ready to assist.

We’re here to help.

We have worked closely with our customers to ensure alternative payment and transaction arrangements have been made in the lead up to 1 July 2021, and our team remains available to assist you in any way we can.

If you wish to further discuss alternative payment methods available to you, we encourage you to reach out to your Branch or Relationship Manager.

Please keep in mind that access to our online banking platform, abal.online, is available to you and can be arranged by getting in touch with your branch. We also encourage existing online banking customers to download our mobile banking app, abal.mobile, to keep up to date with your accounts.

Rest assured, we recognise the importance of maintaining efficient and timely banking and look forward to providing our assistance throughout the duration of this transition.

Yours sincerely,

Emile Chahine
Executive Manager, Banking