In February 2025, 34 uncovered cheques were issued in Cyprus for a total of €42,493.
This was announced by the Central Bank of Cyprus on Thursday 6th March.
They were issued by 8 companies and 6 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, a month earlier, 16 counterfeit cheques were registered for a total amount of €42,062, while the total number of persons registered on the CIR's preliminary list was 10 (3 companies and 7 individuals).
The Central Bank of Cyprus also pointed out that in February 2025 the number of persons registered in the CIR was 12 (4 legal entities, 3 natural persons and 5 natural persons controlling legal entities). For the whole of 2024, 202 persons were added to the register of issuers of void cheques and 274 in 2023.
From January 2020 to February 2025, a total of more than one thousand persons were registered in the CIR. Finally, more than 2.5 thousand bounced cheques were issued in Cyprus in 5 years, amounting to more than €6 million.
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.