The UK Office of Fair Trading has turned its eye toward cheques, as the next sector of banking in the region to be examined by the Payment Systems Task Force.
The Task Force includes representative associations of banks, building societies, consumer and business groups, and, as observers, H M Treasury and the Bank of England, among other groups.
The organization has set up a group to look at a number of issues relating to cheques, including: customers’ understanding of what ‘cheque clearing’ means; the level of consumer demand and benefit for speeding cheque clearing; the costs and benefits of to changing the current system; the costs and benefits to consumers in using cheques, rather than other payment methods.
A report with the task force’s findings will be published in summer 2006.
During the course of its four year remit the Task Force will also examine the UK’s ATM and Card Networks, as well as issues such as pricing, transparency and innovation in payment systems.