Singapore to eliminate all corporate cheques by 2025

Use of cheques for payments has declined to just 7%, says DPM Wong.

Singapore is aiming to cease the use of corporate cheques by 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in a speech.

Delivering the opening remarks for the Singapore Fintech Festival 2022, Wong said that the government plans to issue a public consultation on 2 November.

“We aim to eliminate all cheques and eliminate central clearing [for cheques] in the medium term,” Wong told attendees.

The use of cheques in Singapore have reportedly declined sharply in the past five years, at only 7% of payments as of 2022, compared to 22% in 2016, Wong noted.

A longer runway will be rolled out for elderly people to allow them to shift to alternative payment methods and adopt e-payments, he added.