The cheques timeline
1659 Date of the earliest known surviving English cheque
1694 Court of the Bank of England meets for the first time
1704 The first Act defining the status of bills of exchange and promissory notes in law
1706 Act providing for Bills of Exchange to have two counterfoils
1717 Bank of England introduce printed cheques
1759 Earliest known surviving cheque on a printed form drawn on Vere Glyn & Hallifax
1768 Boldero Carter Barnston & Snaith issue coloured cheques
1770 Daily cheque clearings formalised among private London bankers when clerks met at the Five Bells, a tavern in Lombard Street in the City of London
1773 Cheque exchange established by hiring a separate room at the Five Bells
1782 First act to impose a tax on all cheques made out “to order”
1805 Clearing of items drawn within London moved to the offices of Messrs Smith, Payne & Smith in Lombard Street
1811 Earliest known personalised cheque drawn by John Thom on the Commercial Bank of Scotland
1821 Committee of bankers formed to regulate clearings in London
1833 First Bankers Clearing House built in Lombard Street, London
1854 Settlement in cash replaced by settlement across accounts held at the Bank of England using cheques drawn on the Bank
1858 Country clearing established; 1d stamp duty applicable to all cheques
1865 Edinburgh clearing house opened
1882 Bills of Exchange Act
1907 Metropolitan clearing established
1918 Stamp duty on cheques doubled from 1d to 2d
1939 Clearing transferred to Stoke-on-Trent during World War II
1939 During WWII, cheques were photographed, for the first time, using Recordak microfilm apparatus (made by Eastman Kodak), allowing duplicates to be printed for back office processes
1946 Clearing transferred back to Lombard Street, London
1957 Cheques Act published
1960 First cheque MICR reader/sorter demonstrated to Committee of London Clearing Bankers
1961 Credit clearing established
1962 First cheque MICR reader/sorter system in Europe opened at the Westminster Bank, Lothbury Head Office
1965 First cheque card issued by National Provincial Bank allowing cheques to be cashed at its branches up to the value of £20 per day
1966 First cheque cards issued guaranteeing encashment of cheques and payment by cheque for goods and services up to a value of £30 per cheque
1969 UK Domestic Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme introduced
1971 Stamp duty on cheques abolished
1974 Clearing processes exempted from three-day week restrictions (imposed by the state of emergency during the coal miners’ strike)
1977 £50 cheque guarantee card limit introduced
1985 Cheque and Credit Clearing Company (C&CCC) established
1989 £100 and £250 cheque guarantee card limits introduced
1990 Peak year for cheque volumes
1990 William Shakespeare image (logo/hologram) appeared on all cheque guarantee cards
1992 Cheques Act and Account Payee crossing regulations
1994 London Exchange Centre moved from Lombard Street to Goodman’s Fields in the East End of London
1995 Introduction of the Cheque Printer Accreditation Scheme (CPAS)
1995 Town clearing closed
1995 Lloyds Bank introduced left-handed chequebooks
1996 Deregulation (Bills of Exchange) Order to enable presentation of cheques for payment by electronic notification of the information in the code line rather than by physical presentment.
1996 The C&CCC implements the Inter-Bank Data Exchange (IBDE) network for the exchange of cheque data – the first network in Great Britain for the exchange of bulk clearing data between the major high street banks and building societies.
1996 Scottish cheque clearing with Scottish Exchange came under the responsibility of the C&CCC
1998 IBDE extended to banks in Scotland
1999 British euro cheque clearing system established by the C&CCC
2003 London Exchange moved to the Midlands from London and was renamed the English Exchange
2006 Office of Fair Trading report requiring certainty-of-fate on cheques
2007 Belfast Bankers’ Clearing Company established.
2007 Payments Council set up
2007 2-4-6 cheque clearing timescales introduced by the C&CCC across the UK, giving customers certainty on cheque funds for the very first time
2008 Bank of England approves the Cheque Clearing System and the Credit Clearing System as designated systems under the Financial Markets and Insolvency (Settlement Finality) Regulations 1999.
2009 All IBDE cheque data files encrypted
2009 C&CCC celebrates 350th anniversary of the earliest known surviving English cheque
2009 Target date of 2018 set by the Payments Council for closure of central cheque clearing system
2010 Management of the currency clearings became the responsibility of the C&CCC
2011 Closure of the UK Domestic Cheque Guarantee Card Scheme
2011 The Payments Council abandons plans to close the cheque clearing system in 2018 and announces that cheques will continue for as long as customers need them
2013 Cheque Redirection Service introduced by the C&CCC as part of the new Current Account Switch Service (CASS)
2013 In December, the C&CCC Board gave the go-ahead for the development of an image-based method of clearing cheques
2014 HM Treasury held consultation on speeding up cheque payments by legislating for cheque imaging and draft legislation enabling a move to imaging published
2015 The payment systems managed by the C&CCC became regulated by the Payment Systems Regulator as of 1st April
2015 The C&CCC commences the work to design and build the infrastructure so that the Image Clearing System can be introduced
2016 Legislative change in Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill enables the introduction of cheque imaging.
2017 July - The currency clearing, which processed cheques drawn on UK banks, ceased operation
2017 30th October - The Image Clearing System will start to go live with some banks and building societies.
2018 By the end of the year - all UK banks and building societies working towards clearing all cheques via the Image Clearing System to a faster timescale.