Cheques to be phased out in 2026
The Bank of Zambia- BOZ- has announced the phasing out of Bank Cheques which will no longer be accepted as a payment instrument in Zambia from June 24th, 2026.
BOZ says the decision to phase out cheques is due to the fact that the value of cheque transactions has declined by 80 percent in the last 10 year.
Other factors include emergence of electronic payment methods and insecurity as cheques are prone to fraud associated with forgery, alteration, theft of cheque books and unauthorised use.
The Central bank has advised members of the public to take note of following timelines for phasing out the cheques.
Effective December 27th 2024, a public notice on phasing out of the cheque will be issued while on Friday February 28th, 2025 will be the last day for customers to request for cheque books from commercial banks.
BOZ has also set March 31st, 2025 as the last day for customers to deposit cheques at any commercial bank while June 26th, 2026 will be the last day for interbank clearing of cheques.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Bank of Zambia’s Communications Department.
