UAE banks told to accept old cheques

Dubai: The Central Bank has asked all UAE banks to postpone the deadline on mandatory implementation of the new machine readable cheques.

The deadline to start the implementation was January 1. In a circular issued late on Tuesday, the Central Bank advised all banks to postpone the implementation of the new rules until further notice.

"From January 1, 2011, customers who were holding cheques without security features were denied the ability to deposit them.

"A revised cut-off date for handling cheques without security features will be released in the near future. Until then, banks should revert to accepting all cheques presented to them," the circular said.

Machine readable cheques are designed with special electronic bars to enhance security.

The Central Bank introduced the rules last February in a bid to curb embezzlement and forgery.