To ask Australians about cheques, most would say they are old-fashioned. But a new analysis shows that cheques are not dead.
Canstar, a financial services firm, analyzed payment statistics from (RBA), the Australian depository bank, and found that cheques were still heavily used, with more than 81 million cheques issued by individuals or companies in 2017.
Mitchell Watson, group research and rating manager, said it showed that there was still a demand for cheques.
"I thought the number of cheques was either small or non-existent," he said.
"but it turns out that many companies and government departments are still spending notes."
Among consumers, it is mainly the elderly who use cheques.
"our online banks have been around for at least 20 years and we're getting rid of cheques, but some people still rely on them," Watson said. "even recently, the only way I could get the balance was by mailing a check to my account. It's still a big bank. "
However, while 81 million cheques may look large, the figure is 20.6 percent less than more than 102 million in the same period last year and 20.5 percent less than 128 million in 2015.
Over the past decade, the total use of cheques has fallen by 79.61%.
Australian Payments Network Chief Executive Leila Fourie said it was important to interpret the figures in the context because cheque payments accounted for less than 0.2 percent of all payments in Australia.
"older Australians are still likely to use cheques to pay for things like electricity and family bills, membership fees and charitable donations," she said.
"but people over 65 are increasingly using credit cards and electronic payments."
"A lot of Australians in their 30s have never written cheques, and I think intergenerational changes will continue to have an important impact on their demise."
She said the emergence of new payment options such as (NPP), a new payment platform, would accelerate the decline of cheques and bring Australia closer to a society in which "individuals and businesses don't use them at all."
The real estate trading industry is a notable example of the trend towards no cheques, says Fourie.
"the industry is moving from paper to online property transactions," she said.
In the new state, for example, all real estate transfers, mortgages and cancellations must be submitted online from July 1 next year.