TECHNOLOGY: UK banks to accept photos of cheques captured via smartphones

With the advent of technology, several changes have been made in commercial transactions; the most recent development  is mobile cheques.The UK has passed a new law that obliges British banks to accept and process photos of cheques captured via smartphones, the Treasury announced.

The law, called Check 21, comes four years late to the game. Banks like JP Morgan Chase in the US have accepted and processed photos of cheques since 2010. British banks, on the other hand, had the legal right to see physical cheques before accepting and processing them.

The UK government is now finally embracing electronic cheques. In addition, Check 21 should help banks reduce processing time from six days to two. Barclays has announced a pilot programme for April 2014.

Barclays' programme will accept and processes photos of cheques captured via smartphones. The bank says we can expect to see the service eventually roll out to all customers sometime in late 2014.