Check Transactions Enhanced as New Law Comes Into Effect

Check payments have improved in the past three months after the new check law came into effect, said an official with Central Bank of Iran.
The new law became enforceable on March 25 to increase transparency and curb rubber and forged checks.
According to Ameneh Nadali-Zadeh, deputy of CBI’s Payment Systems Department, bounced checks have declined due to the new rules.
“The ratio of bad checks to transacted checks was 9.5% during March 21 to June 21. It was 16% in the corresponding period last year,” she was quoted as saying by the CBI website.
Nadali-Zadeh added that 2.3 million checkbooks have been given to bank customers since the new law was implemented. “This is equivalent to 48 million checks, 5.57 million of which are registered in check platforms and are in circulation,” she said.
Check issuers are required to register data such as date of issuance, sum, and identity of the beneficiary on special check portals.
The CBI has designed an integrated electronic system and streamlined electronic check-processing platforms, namely ‘Sayyad’ and ‘Chekavak’, for issuing digital checks.
Sayyad is a system designed to run a credibility check on account holders wanting to write a check.  Chekavak is an electronic check processing system for eliminating the physical circulation of checks and improve their credibility.
The Sayyad system is accessible to check holders via banks’ internet gateways as well as cellphone applications. Nadali-Zadeh said registering checks via short message service (SMS) and USSD codes would be possible by the end of current calendar month on July 22.