In October 2024, 18 uncovered cheques totalling €533,524 were issued in Cyprus, compared with 23 uncovered cheques totalling €1,536,852 a month earlier.
This was announced by the Central Bank of Cyprus on Tuesday 5th November.
The cheques were issued by 15 companies and eight 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, 26 forged cheques were registered for a total amount of €276,202.
In turn, between January and October 2024, a total of 252 uncashed cheques were recorded in the CIR, compared to 280 in the corresponding period of the previous year. These involved 179 persons (68 legal persons, 29 natural persons and 82 natural persons controlling legal persons). Incidentally, the figures are down and remain well below those recorded in 2014 (€3.36 million), as well as in 2013 (€5.67 million) and even more so in 2012 (€7.75 million).
The Central Bank of Cyprus also highlighted that in the first 10 months of 2024, 179 persons were registered in the CIR, compared to 228 persons in the corresponding period of 2023.
From January 2020 to October 2024, a total of more than one thousand persons were registered in the CIR. Finally, more than two thousand bounced cheques were issued in Cyprus between January 2020 and August 2024, 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.