I Think I Will See The Last Cheque

Dateline: London, 11th December 2024.The Deputy Manager of the American Bankers Association, Dale Reistad, made an interesting speech setting out a vision for the payments industry. He told the Midwest Economics Association that innovations may “eliminate the need for numerous credit cards, checks – and, perhaps, cash – and at the same time expand and simplify customer services”. I couldn’t agree more, and I think it’s pretty interesting, given Visa’s recent announcements, that he goes on to say that in the future “one bank ID card would provide identification, unlock the customer’s bank account and serve also as the key to his [record at a] credit bureau”.Subscribe nowCheck DynamicsOh, I forgot to mention, Mr. Reistad made this speech in 1967.Back in the Summer of Love, he said that what he called “checkless” banking “may replace our current system as early as 1980”. It didn’t. Well, it didn’t in the United States. I can’t remember the last time I used (or even saw) a cheque in our United Kingdom and they have vanished from view in many other countries. Yet when I lived in California in the 1980s I was surprised by the thick check book my bank gave me and my son was just as surprised when he moved to California four decades later and was presented with an entirely similar artefact of payments past. It was as if he had been asked to pay his rent using doubloons.with kind permission of Helen Holmes (CC-BY-ND 4.0)There are a few reasons…I Think I Will See The Last Cheque