In August 2024, 30 uncovered cheques were issued in Cyprus for a total of €57,129, compared to 36 uncovered cheques for a total of €60,416 in the previous month.
This was announced by the Central Bank of Cyprus on Monday 9th September.
The cheques were issued by 11 companies and five individuals. The Central Bank said that all the cheques had been added to the preliminary list of the Central Information Repository (CIR), which is maintained by the financial institution. Interestingly, in the corresponding month of 2023, only 9 forged cheques were registered, but for a large total amount of €78,108.
On the other hand, between January and August 2024, a total of 209 uncashed cheques were registered in the CIR, for a total amount of €420,492, compared to 218 cheques for a total amount of €693,918 in the corresponding period of the previous year.
These involved 101 persons (69 legal entities and 32 natural persons). Incidentally, the figures are down and remain well below those recorded in 2014 (€3.361 million), as well as in 2013 (€5.673 million) and even more so in 2012 (€7.759 million).
The Central Bank of Cyprus also highlighted that the number of persons registered with the CIR fell to 15 in August 2024 (6 legal persons, 4 natural persons and 5 natural persons controlling legal persons).
In the first eight months of 2024, 147 persons were registered with the CIR, compared with 193 persons in the corresponding period of 2023.
From January 2020 to August 2024, a total of 1,010 persons (366 legal persons, 203 natural persons and 441 natural persons controlling legal persons) were registered in the CIR. Finally, between January 2020 and August 2024, more than 2,000 bounced cheques amounting to more than €6 million were issued in Cyprus.
The Central Bank of Cyprus stresses that it is closely monitoring the situation and urges individuals and businesses to exercise financial prudence so as not to contribute to this growing problem.