Canadian Think-Tank Says It’s Time To Get Rid of Paper Checks

Leave it to those progressive Canadians to be ahead of the curve again.

A Canadian think-tank has come out and said that it’s time for the financial services industry to get rid of paper checks and move to an all-electronic payment system. The costs associated with paper checks are too high and the benefits from going all-electronic are too great not to do it, the report claims.

Scotiabank, for one, estimates that it costs businesses between $9 and $25 to use a cheque. Businesses could save between $1.6 billion ($4.50 per cheque) and $4.4 billion ($12.50 per cheque) annually by writing 350 million fewer cheques every year and using alternatives that are less costly.

Paper checks have been around forever and many will tell you that they serve a tremendous purpose, but perhaps the time has come for the payments industry to continue its evolution and ditch paper checks.