MILAN. Once the pad of paper was the first thing that was delivered to customers who opened a new current account. But in the age of digital payments, pay apps and home banking, bank checks are becoming a thing of the past. And now they are preparing to retire.
Intesa Sanpaolo has started scrapping them. These days, some of its customers are sending a communication informing them: “From 8 May you will no longer be able to use your check book”. Then the communication continues: «We also inform you that starting from the same date, you will be able to make instant bank transfers online without any additional commission, at the same cost as the Italy bank transfer». For now, the customers involved are only a few thousand. But gradually other account holders will be affected by this measure. «Many customers practically no longer use paper checks – they say from Intesa Sanpaolo -. We have offered them an alternative method of payment, digital, therefore more immediate, and also more consistent with ESG choices. Obviously on equal economic conditions.
Confirmation of the end of checks comes from Bank of Italy data: in September 2022, as the “Payment System” report reveals, the number of transactions with checks fell below 1% of total payments with alternative instruments in cash. A flickering share that has slipped ever lower in recent years (in 2013 the level was around 5%) and which is in danger of disappearing.